Hopeless Romance
by Klarolineluvr34
Summary: When her long con of a plan that kept her behind the scenes starts falling apart, Penelope Park informs her ex, Josie, about M.G.'s crush on Lizzie, who's completely clueless. With this new information, they decide to team up with other students to make Lizzie notice him. However, things go haywire of course. Let the games begin. (Inspired by TheKlarolineShipperGames)(DISCONTINUED)
1. Right Direction, Wrong Saltzman

**A/N: This is my first Legacies story, so sorry if any of them are OOC in anyway.**

Lizzie and Josie were walking down a hallway discussing the possibilities of what they were eating for lunch that day, when Josie is suddenly hit with a weird feeling and stops.

"What is it?" Lizzie asks concerned that her twin stopped walking.

"I was just thinking about the night I caught MG making out with Penelope." Josie explains, her facial expression confused by her own thoughts while Lizzie looks at her with disturbed expression.

"Why?" Lizzie questions, clearly grossed out by Josie's train of thoughts.

"I'm trying to figure why he would make out with her and the feelings I had towards it." Josie explains and Lizzie is struck with an idea.

"Oh my god, maybe he did it to make you jealous." Lizzie thinks aloud.

"What?" Josie asks scrunching her face up in confusion, so Lizzie elaborates.

"Oh come on, first of all, making out with friend's ex is like step one to making your crush jealous, secondly, remember when you told me about how you were nauseous when you saw him making out with Dana?" Lizzie questions after giving an understandable reason, making Josie believe she might be right.

"I remember telling you that but I was only nauseous because of twin pain." Josie states plainly but Lizzie spins on her heel so she's facing her and places her hands on Josie's shoulders.

"Or…." Lizzie starts and Josie seems to finish her thought for her.

"...I was jealous." Josie finishes her sister's thought as she nods trying to understand where her sister is going with this conversation.

"You also said you had feelings toward MG and Penelope making out. What were they?" Lizzie asks so Josie thinks for a moment before answering.

"Uh, I felt hurt, betrayed, angry…." Josie begins but Lizzie cuts her off.

"Oh god, all of the emotions you just named can easily translate to jealousy." Lizzie explains cheerfully.

"Oh my god, I have a crush on MG. Oh god, MG has a crush on me." Josie reveals sounding slightly excited by this revelation and looks at Lizzie, who's smiling at this revelation as well.

"Ooh look, there's MG." Lizzie says after she turns around to see MG walking down the hallway adjacent from them.

"Well, go talk to him." Lizzie advises slightly pushing her forward so she starts to walk up to him but Lizzie stops her.

"Wait, hair and makeup check." Lizzie makes Josie face her so she can fix her hair then she applies lip gloss on her.

"Okay, now go get 'em tiger." Lizzie turns Josie in MG's direction, playfully hits her butt, makes a small growl, and smiles as Josie partially jogs up to their shared friend with her books to her chest.

"Hey MG." Josie says nervously once she catches up to him.

"Hey Josie. You changed your hair?" MG asks taking note of her hair making Josie shyly smile and blush.

"Uh yeah, just trying something different." Josie responds still smiling shyly and blushing as she tucks a part of her hair behind her ear.

"I like it." MG states plainly, oblivious to the fact that she's blushing and clearly nervous.

"So, what are you doing?" Josie questions after she recovers from the blushing and nervousness.

"Heading to lunch. Wanna come sit and eat with me?" MG answers than suggests causing Josie to look over at Lizzie, who is closer than she was before and also smiling widely, as she encourages Josie to do so.

"Sure." Josie accepts slowly feeling herself starting to blush again before shaking it off.

At the lunch table, Josie looks nervous and feels slightly awkward before making a pitch to MG.

"So MG, I was wondering if we could talk." Josie says catching MG's attention.

"Ok, what do you want to talk about?" MG asks curiously but Josie starts to backtrack when she realizes what she said.

"Oh, uh, it's not really lunch table conversation." Josie sputters in an awkward fashion as she pushes a lock of hair behind her ear, even though MG doesn't seem to notice her nervously awkward behavior.

"Alright. How about we meet up at your dorm room after school?" MG suggests, which catches Josie completely off-guard as well as causes her to blush.

"Yeah, sure, okay." Josie feels like she's making a complete idiot of herself as she finds herself awkwardly sputtering out words again.

After school, Lizzie walks into her and Josie's dorm room, only to see her twin brushing her teeth in the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Lizzie questions curiously, making Josie jump then spit the toothpaste from her mouth.

"Brushing my teeth. I realized that I forgot this morning." Josie explains causing Lizzie to nod with a smug facial expression.

"So, how was lunch with MG?" Lizzie asks as she leans in the doorway of their bathroom, and the question making Josie blush from embarrassment as she continues to brush her teeth.

"I made an idiot of myself by being nervous and awkward but I don't think MG noticed. Do think he noticed that I didn't brush my teeth?" Josie wonders, looking at her sister with an embarrassed facial expression, after spitting more toothpaste in the sink, even though she gave her explanation while still brushing.

"Probably not. You don't have bad morning breath." Lizzie claims reassuringly as Josie, who just finished brushing her teeth with water to remove the rest of the toothpaste, laughs before voicing her opinion.

"Right, cause I mean not everyone has your horrendous morning breath." Josie states playfully, and chuckles when Lizzie starts to respond.

"Exac…., screw you." Lizzie starts to say but instead playfully insults Josie as she pouts only to feel another smug look crawl on her face as Josie uses mouthwash and she puts her back against the doorway while crossing her arms.

"Oh and she uses mouthwash too, now." Lizzie teases sarcastically which causes Josie to glare at her before spitting the mouthwash in the sink.

"Someone has to." Josie claims plainly but Lizzie scoffs and rolls her eyes at this.

"Yeah me. The first time you used mouthwash, you swallowed it and the second time, you didn't like it at all." Lizzie explains, bringing up their past, which makes Josie roll her eyes as she uses the mouthwash for a second time.

"You totally got it bad, you know like that Chris Brown song." Lizzie compares yet clearly doesn't know that she got the artist wrong.

"Ok first of all, Usher sings that song and secondly, I don't have it bad." Josie corrects her but Lizzie scoff at this.

"Really cause last time I checked, every time you forget to brush your teeth, you always take either breath mints or chew gum but you never actually brush your teeth when you forget. Like I said, you got it bad. Just like Jason DeRulo." Lizzie explains and although her explanation makes Josie thoughtful, it also makes her roll her eyes again.

"Usher." Josie says after she finishes gargling water and spits it in the sink.

"Whatever." Lizzie just rolls eyes then there's a knock on the door, which makes Lizzie suspicious, especially since Josie gets a nervous look on her face.

"Who is that? Did you get in trouble with the headmaster?" Lizzie asks, her tone in the second question sounding impressed yet concerned.

"No, it's MG. I forgot to tell you we made plans to meet up here after school." Josie admits causing Lizzie to look smug again, yet also impressed.

"Well, don't let me interrupt. I have to talk to dad about something, anyway." Lizzie claims then opens the door.

"Hi MG. Bye MG." Lizzie just walks out of the dorm to head to her father's office as Josie just stands in the doorway, this time they both look nervous and awkward.

MG walks in and closes the door which makes Josie slightly more nervous.

"So, you wanted to talk." MG breaks the silence by bringing up why he's there.

"You should know that I'm not entirely okay with it. I mean we're friends so we should tell each other these kinds of things." Josie starts spattering out, the beginning of this conversation totally confusing MG.

"What are you talking about?" MG decides to ask, voicing his clear confusion.

"Your crush on me. I get you probably didn't tell me because you knew that it would be awkward but you should know using Penelope to make me jealous was kind of a low-blow." Josie continues to spatter out what's on her mind, but MG realizes that his stunt apparently gave out mixed signals yet MG remembers Penelope's words about a long con.

"Uh, yeah, I can't apologize more for that stunt. Also I really didn't want to make our friendship awkward." MG confesses, and although he's unsure if he wants to use Josie in order to make Lizzie, he makes his confession sound realistic.

"I understand that but you should know that I wasn't just jealous of you and Penelope but also of you and Dana in town square." Josie admits but feels she made this conversation more awkward, so she just gets to the point.

"And you should also know that, I have a crush on you to." Josie hesitates but finally confesses, leaving MG completely stunned by this revelation and also realizing that he can't play with someone's actual feelings for him just to get Lizzie to like him, his mother didn't raise him like that.

Even though MG knows he doesn't have a crush on Josie, he still cares about her, but he concludes that he might have some romantic feelings for her as he reciprocates the kiss, that she initiated, pretty happily.

After the kiss breaks, they both lean in for another kiss, which leads to another and another, until they're making out with Josie's arms around his neck, and his arms around her waist.

Josie removes MG's blazer then allows him to remove hers but before anything further can happen, MG needs reassurance.

"You sure?" MG asks and Josie nods, this being her first time with a guy.

"You?" MG nods as well, revealing this will be his first time, then they continue to kiss and as they do Josie starts unbuttoning MG's dress shirt until he takes it off.

Then MG ultimately unbuttons Josie's shirt, as it falls to the floor, they walk backwards to Josie's bed and fall on it after MG placed Josie's bare legs around his waist.

MG removes his lips from hers to kiss her then down to her jaw line and finally kissing her neck as he holds her hand while she moans pleasurably from him kissing her neck.

Sometime later, when Josie's sleeping after a night of sex, MG hears footsteps that he thinks are approaching the dorm, and so assuming it's Lizzie, or worse, the headmaster, he vamp speeds his clothes on then leaves, completely unnoticed.

The next morning, Josie wakes up with a smile on her face that turns to a frown when she sees MG isn't there.

Realizing Lizzie isn't back in their dorm yet, she gets out of bed and hops in the shower, after siphoning magic from the school to magically wash her sheets, without it being obvious.

Lizzie walks in the dorm just as Josie gets out of the shower.

"Great I need a shower, I had a night of horrible regret." Lizzie reveals looking very bitter, and clearly angry with herself about whatever happened last night, which causes Josie to not even ask about it, even though she's curious about her sister's night.

So Lizzie hops in shower while Josie gets dressed, still wondering about if she should ask her sister what happened last night.

Once Lizzie is out of the shower and dressed, she grabs a pillow off of her own bed then hops onto Josie's, pouting as well as still looking angry.

Lizzie sighs heavily in annoyance then leans back on her sister's bed, which makes Josie feel the need to tell her not to.

"Oh, uh, do you mind Lizzie. That's kind of a sacred ground." Josie admits and Lizzie immediately shoots up, shocked.

"It is!" Lizzie shouts, clearly happy for her sister, but Josie quickly shushes her as she shouted it pretty loud.

"Shhh!" Josie shushes her, but Lizzie's still smiling as she remains happy from her sister's confession.

"It is!" Lizzie shouts again, whispering this time, yet clearly still excited.

"Yeah, um, me and MG…. last night." Josie reveals and although Lizzie is happy for her, she gets off of Josie's bed then goes to sit on her own bed.

"So, how was your night?" Josie asks changing the subject but Lizzie refuses to tell her.

"Uh, more like how was yours?" Lizzie remarks, then gets off her bed in order to grab and drag Josie onto it.

"So how was it?" Lizzie questions, making Josie slightly uncomfortable but she smiles because Lizzie's happy.

"I am so not answering that." Josie states but Lizzie presses her on the discussion.

"Oh you so are. Tell me everything." Lizzie practically demands so Josie starts talking, getting somewhat more comfortable on the topic.

Meanwhile, MG is in his dorm looking at his messaging page on his phone, debating on who he should text, as he has new messages, one being from Penelope, one from Kaleb, and one from Josie, ultimately choosing to text Penelope back first.

'_Hey Peez, I just want to let you know I'm going to have to skip our meet-up. Things have gotten ... complicated. Will explain later.'_ MG sends the text then responds to Kaleb's.

Wondering if he should text back, he looks at Josie's text message that reads:

'_Hey MG, so last night probably made things awkward between us. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that. Just call, or text me, if you want.'_

MG decides not to respond and he's about to put his phone away when he gets another text, from Penelope that reads:

'_Uh, how complicated did things get? Whatever, I don't care, just meet me at the library in 30. We need to talk.'_

Now MG is more confused than he was, what could Penelope possibly need to tell him?

The curiosity and the need to have this question answered were what made him really contemplate showing up in the library.

Penelope was sitting in the library by the fireplace, holding a bottle of beer, that she puts toward her mouth, about to drink, when she hears footsteps behind causing her to roll her eyes, seemingly knowing the identity of the person who walked in.

"You're late." Penelope says in an annoyed tone before taking a swig of her beer.

"By fifteen minutes." MG reveals himself as the person who walked in.

"It doesn't matter, my text said in thirty, you showed in forty-five." Penelope exclaims, very irritated, but seemingly not at MG.

"Somebody put you in a mood. Can I do anything to help?" MG asks, addressing the situation calmly, but this just makes her frown, take another swig of her beer, then stand up and turn around to look at MG.

"So how complicated did things get exactly?" Penelope questions, mildly intimidating MG, who shakes it off before she notices.

"So, um, I'll get straight to the point, uh, I'm no longer interested in Lizzie Saltzman." MG confesses, leaving Penelope to gape at him in shock, and also in horror, unbeknownst to MG, as they stand in the library, silent.


	2. A Disassembled Plan

Several weeks later, at lunch time, Penelope storms into the dining area where everyone's having lunch, looking totally pissed.

She walks over to the table Kaleb's sitting at and slams her hands on the table, getting his attention as he eats a sandwich for lunch.

"My plan is falling apart, Kaleb." Penelope grits through her teeth, momentarily confusing Kaleb.

"What plan?" Kaleb asks, with a mouthful of food, confused then realizes what she's talking about after she casts a significant glare at him.

"Ohhh, you mean your plan where Lizzie gets with…." Penelope shushes him before he finishes his statement.

"Shhh. Yes that plan. It completely fell apart because apparently MG is no longer interested in Lizzie." Penelope reveals still pissed but Kaleb just swallows his food after chuckling.

"Well that's because MG's got himself a girlfriend." Kaleb states, shocking Penelope.

"What?!" Penelope practically shouts as Kaleb takes another bite of his sandwich and others look at her, which she notices.

"Mind your own business!" Penelope shouts at the people who were looking at her, which has them go back to what they were doing, then she turns back to Kaleb.

"What do you mean MG has a girlfriend?" Penelope questions which makes Kaleb scoff at her ignorance.

"I'm surprised you haven't seen them together. They flaunt their relationship everywhere. Actually, they're never one without the other." Kaleb explains with a mouthful before swallowing in order to take another bite but Penelope takes and puts his sandwich on the table, keeping her hand over it as a way to hold the sandwich hostage, before he can, which annoys Kaleb.

"Who is this girlfriend of his?" Penelope asks patronizingly which intimidates Kaleb.

"I think you should talk to Lizzie about that." Kaleb responds, so Penelope removes her hand from his sandwich, which he takes back happily as Penelope leaves the dining hall so she can find Lizzie.

After asking where Lizzie was, Penelope just walks into Lizzie and Josie's dorm room to find Lizzie on the ground, in front of her mirror, meditating.

"Ommm. Ommm." Lizzie pauses her meditating when she hears her door close.

"Who's interrupting my meditation session?" Lizzie wonders with an annoyed tone.

"Penelope. We need to talk." Penelope claims which makes Lizzie roll her eyes.

"No, we don't need to do anything. I need to find peace and my inner beauty." Lizzie retorts, then resumes her meditation, much to Penelope's annoyance.

"So, goooo away." Lizzie says in her calm, meditating voice after opening one eye to see that Penelope was still there.

"Where's Josie?" Penelope asks, confused, causing Lizzie to sigh, decide to stop her meditating, and turn to face Penelope.

"With her boyfriend." Lizzie sighs out in annoyance but before Penelope can question, Lizzie continues speaking.

"You think you're so sly, well, you're not. Because me and Josie discovered your little scheme. So congrats, you got what you wanted." Lizzie states, confusing Penelope greatly.

"What are you talking about?" Penelope questions with a frown of confusion.

"Oh don't play dumb. I mean, your move of making out with MG, then probably having something to do with the fact MG made out with Dana. Well, Josie and I discovered your scheme and now Josie is dating MG, just like you wanted." Lizzie explains, leaving Penelope completely shocked, as this was not what she wanted at all.

Lizzie turns back to her meditation bowl, in order to restart her meditation, but Penelope interrupts again.

"Are you meditating because of Josie and MG's relationship?" Penelope asks curiously, which causes Lizzie to turn back in her direction.

"If you're fishing to see if I'm jealous then get ready to be mistaken. I don't hate the fact either Josie or MG are dating, I hate the fact that I'm not in as happy of a relationship as they are." Lizzie reveals with a frown.

"I mean, even Hope freaking Mikaelson has a boyfriend, who she's happy with, and the guy I want isn't even interested, literally saying to my face, he wants nothing to do with me." Lizzie continues in an irritated tone.

"But that doesn't matter because with my meditation and my persistence to not leave this room, I am going to rise above relationships to be an independent woman." Lizzie claims in a much more confident than usual tone before turning back to her bowl.

"Now leave so I can make that dream happen." Lizzie demands then finally restarts her meditation, causing Penelope to leave, still in shock by the information she's learned yet impressed by Lizzie wanting to turn over a new leaf.

Penelope starts walking back to the dining hall to tell Kaleb good news when she sees MG and Josie on couches, near a bookshelf, acting cute before kissing then walking separate ways.

Seeing that was like a punch to Penelope's gut causing her to remember her own relationship with Josie, where they made each other smile like that, and frown, suffering in silence about how their relationship ended.

"Penelope, why are you just standing there?" Rafael appears, startling Penelope from her thoughts.

"Don't sneak up on a witch." Penelope advises, then starts walking away before turning to face him again.

"If you're standing here, that means lunch ended." Penelope realizes but Rafael shakes his head.

"Uh no, it hasn't actually. I was just heading to the library to catch up on some of my more tedious homework that needs silence in order to work on." Rafael explains with a shrug.

"Is Kaleb still in the dining hall?" Penelope questions and Rafael just nods then leaves to go to the library so Penelope heads back to the dining hall.

Penelope walks over to where Kaleb is still sitting, this time eating a bag of chips, having finished his sandwich.

"You're in a better mood." Kaleb notices as Penelope sits across from him as opposed to earlier where she was standing.

"Well I talked to Lizzie, who gave me interestingly good news." Penelope says calmly as she takes some chips from his bag, making Kaleb curious.

"Really, what'd she say?" Kaleb asks, causing Penelope to smile at him.

"It turns out that my plan hasn't completely fallen apart. It was just badly misinterpreted." Penelope explains, keeping Kaleb looking at her curiously.

"So if your entire plan was just misinterpreted, how exactly are you going to fix it?" Kaleb wonders as he pops some chips into his mouth but Penelope just smiles at him.

"I already have that covered." Penelope states, her smile getting more broad, making Kaleb mildly concerned.


	3. New Information

Two days later, Penelope has been trying to talk to Josie, yet to no avail, since everytime she sees Josie she's either with MG or ignoring her completely.

Penelope ultimately realizes that she has to get Lizzie involved so she can talk to Josie.

Lizzie was sitting in bed, meditating, when she finds herself remembering her last conversation with Josie.

**(Two weeks earlier)**

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Josie asks in a worried tone.

"For the hundredth time, yes I am perfectly okay with you and MG dating. Honestly, it is time for you to start taking care of yourself. If I have a breakdown, then I have dad and meditation so go enjoy your relationship." Lizzie encourages with a smile on her face.

"I just don't want to make you feel I left you behind." Josie reveals with a frown.

"Hey, don't worry about me. Like I said, I'll be fine but of course that is very capable of changing…." Lizzie starts with a mildly threatening tone that makes Josie hold her breath and look intimidated.

"If you don't focus more on your relationship. Look, you not being happy makes me upset, which explains why I've been more testy lately." Lizzie reveals, relieving Josie, who shyly smiles at her.

"Ok." Josie says making Lizzie smile broadly at her, happy that she finally agreed to this.

**(Present day)**

Lizzie continues to meditate when her phone rings, causing her to sigh in exasperation before reluctantly answering it.

"What." Lizzie grumpily states after she accepts the call.

"It's Penelope. I need a favor." Penelope claims more shyly than aggressively.

"This is the second time you interrupted my meditation session. What do you need?" Lizzie asks, clearly annoyed when she said her first statement.

"I need to talk to Josie but whenever I find her, she either ignores me or is with MG. Do you think you can set up a meeting for me?" Penelope questions, shocking Lizzie with this request.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do and you'll receive a text when she gets here." Lizzie replies, still annoyed that her meditation has to be stopped for Penelope, once again.

"Thank you." Penelope says then the call ends, leaving both ends shocked by the others kindness.

Lizzie decides to call Josie in order to help Penelope sooner rather than later.

"Hey Lizzie." Josie says when she answers the phone.

"Hey, I was wondering if we could talk." Lizzie states, making Josie nervous.

"What happened?" Josie asks, clearly concerned.

"Nothing. I just want to talk to my sister, it feels like ages since we last spoke." Lizzie explains, calming Josie.

"Ok, I'll come to our dorm in ten. See you soon." Josie claims in a sleepy voice.

"See you soon." Lizzie responds happily then ends the call.

Lizzie decides to text Penelope; '_Josie will be here in ten. I suggest you get here sooner or else she'll know something's up.'_

Penelope shows up in five to see Lizzie continuing her meditation, so she just waits in the bathroom until Josie arrives.

When Josie does arrives, Lizzie stops meditating, happy to see her sister for the first time in two weeks.

Lizzie gets off the bed and hugs Josie, who reciprocates the happiness her sister has.

"God, I feel like centuries have passed since I last saw you." Lizzie says, enthusiastically as she exaggerates but the exaggeration just makes Josie smile.

"It hasn't been centuries but it has been a while." Josie teases, then they both laugh.

"So, what's with the meditation?" Josie asks when she notices that Lizzie's meditating bowl is out.

"I'm rising above my fallout with Rafael and relationships in general. I'm on the way to becoming an independent woman." Lizzie reveals confidently which makes Josie smile even more broadly.

"I'm happy to hear that." Josie claims, still smiling at her sister.

"Well, I'm going to be honest, I didn't call you here just because I wanted to see you." Lizzie states, causing Josie to frown in confusion then Penelope walks out of the bathroom.

"She's all yours." Lizzie says then, taking her meditation bowl with her, walks out leaving Penelope and Josie alone.

"Don't leave. I've been wanting to talk to you for the passed two days." Penelope pleads, before Josie can back out to leave.

"Ok, so talk." Josie demands bitterly, hurt that Penelope used Lizzie in order to talk to her.

"Lizzie informed me that you're dating MG." Penelope states kind of awkwardly, which makes Josie scoff and roll her eyes.

"Yeah I am. Why, jealous of a relationship that you wanted to happen?" Josie questions in a sarcastic tone that Penelope isn't used to hearing.

"No, I wanted to tell you that you misinterpreted it. My actions weren't so you'd date MG, Josie. It was for your sister to." Penelope reveals, shocking Josie.

"Why are you telling me this?" Josie asks, still shocked and now confused.

"Because you should know that you and your sister suck at interpreting and I miss you." Penelope claims, shocking Josie more.

"Well, regardless, I'm spoken for." Josie says after recovering from the shock of Penelope's last two revelations.

"By a guy who might still have a crush on your sister?" Penelope questions with a sad tone, which makes Josie frown.

"Look, I'm glad you're happy, I am, but I really don't think you should lower yourself to that kind of guy." Penelope states, causing Josie to realize that she has a point.

"Even if you're right and I decide to end things with MG, I'm sure you heard Lizzie. She is reinventing herself as an independent woman and I don't want to ruin that. I think it might be good for her." Josie explains before Penelope can leave.

"Well if you want to stay with MG and have Lizzie continue her path of independency, then fine. But if you want to help me get Lizzie and MG together, then you know where I'll be." Penelope says then leaves without saying another word, leaving a shocked Josie to contemplate their entire conversation.

A few moments later, Lizzie returns and casually sits on her bed then looks concerned when she sees that her sister upset.

"Did you want to sleepover?" Lizzie asks, regretting her decision to leave Penelope and Josie alone.

"Uh, yeah, I'd like that." Josie responds, nodding her head, crawls onto Lizzie's bed to lay down, then Lizzie, finally stopping her meditation, lays down next to and cuddles closer to Josie.

"So what did Penelope want?" Lizzie questions.

"Uh, not much. Just wanted to borrow one of my lip glosses." Josie lies but Lizzie doesn't seem to notice.

"Oh, well you seemed pretty upset after she left." Lizzie recalls but Josie shrugs it off.

"Well, that's because it was one of my favorites and although she claims she'll return it, I'm still unsure." Josie explains.

"If you want me to get it back from her, let me know." Lizzie advises which makes Josie chuckle.

"If she doesn't return it, then I will let you knock yourself out in getting it back." Josie says teasingly, causing them both to giggle then they go to sleep.


	4. Different Types of Scheming

For the next week, her conversation with Penelope had been nagging at Josie, a part of her could even acknowledge that her ex was right but Lizzie was turning over a new leaf and she, herself, was blissfully happy with MG.

She didn't want to ruin either things that were going on but she knew Penelope had a point and Josie always wanted Lizzie to be happy in a relationship of sorts.

But Josie was having one problem; Lizzie can only be happy if she is but she can only be happy if Lizzie is.

It was a dilemma she didn't know how to fix and she was sure Penelope didn't know how to either but Josie found herself ending things with MG, claiming it wasn't him, it was her, as she didn't know what she wanted yet she knows she doesn't want to lead him on.

MG took it better than she thought he would but then she saw it, him being interested in Lizzie, looking at her when she isn't noticing, and just being all around interested with everything about her.

So, Josie starts scheming on how to get these two together on her own, she's thinking that it shouldn't be too hard, but little did she know that she was dead wrong.

Meanwhile, Penelope and Kaleb are scheming after concluding that MG and Josie broke things off, since MG has been following Lizzie around like she's the sun and he's earth.

"So, what's the plan? Ooh, how about we lock them in a room after daring them to do seven minutes in heaven?" Kaleb suggests as he eats a bag of chips, which Penelope clearly contemplates for a moment then shakes her head.

"That won't work, Lizzie doesn't even know what seven minutes in heaven is and neither does MG." Penelope explains, this information shocking Kaleb.

"Wait, really, neither of them know what seven minutes of heaven is?" Kaleb asks and Penelope just simply nods her head.

"That's just sad." Kaleb murmurs under his breath as he pops more chips into his mouth before making more suggestions.

"Alright, how about we just leave them in a room, that has a camera hidden in it, until something happens?" Penelope realizes that Kaleb wants to be involved but just doesn't want to put too much effort into it, which is something she rolls her eyes at in annoyance.

"You're coming up with half-assed solutions." Penelope claims, clearly annoyed by her companion's options.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm coming up with solutions. I don't see you coming up with any ideas." Kaleb retorts but Penelope rolls her eyes yet again.

"That's because I'm thinking. MG is no longer in on this plan, so having him enact a long con to get Lizzie won't work, which means I can no longer be a behind-the-scenes girl anymore." Penelope explains, this explanation seemingly helping Kaleb realize how important this is to her, although the 'why' is unknown.

The two of them are pacing back and forth, trying to think about how to get them together, not knowing Josie's already making moves on her own for this scheme.

"So, where are you going?" Josie asks, sitting in her dad's office as he puts on a jacket.

"Me and Emma are heading out, and we'll be gone for a day and a half." Alaric responds, however his tone implies this isn't the first time he's said it.

"Well Lizzie's eventually going to know you're gone. Can I convince Mr. Williams to throw a big party so she won't?" Josie questions pleadingly and Alaric contemplates this for a moment.

"You can convince him but that doesn't mean he'll agree." Alaric answers causing Josie to smile at him then hug him before rushing to go talk to Mr. Williams.

Dorian was in his office, reading, when there's a knock on his door.

"Come in." Dorian says, not looking up from his book.

Josie walks in, looking nervous and confident at the same time.

"Hey Mr. Williams. I was wondering if we can talk." Josie claims, getting Dorian to look up from his book.

"I was thinking, since my dad is going to be gone for a day and a half, that we can throw a party tomorrow. So Lizzie won't know he isn't at school." Josie adds after suggesting, making Dorian think.

"And I assume Emma is going with him cause if she wasn't, you'd be asking her, not me." Dorian concludes and Josie nods her head in agreement causing Dorian think some more before ultimately sighing.

"Well, now that you mention it, this school has been gloomy since the whole knife thing. I think that a party would be a good distraction from the more recent drama." Dorian explains, agreeing to the party which makes Josie happy.

A few hours later, Lizzie is walking down the hallway when she sees a flyer on a bulletin board that reads;

_Attention Students:_

_Starting tomorrow, we will be having an era masquerade._

_That means you will have to choose an era; viking times, 1700's, decades, etc. to dress up as. _

_For more information, or if you don't understand what an era is, please don't be afraid to come to my office. Also don't forget to wear a mask, it is a masquerade after all._

_Sincerely, Dorian Williams_

Lizzie scans the flyer twice over before ripping it off the board and runs into her dorm room, where Josie happens to be.

"Hey sis." Lizzie says cheerfully with a smile on her face.

"You're in a good mood." Josie notes as she finds herself smiling.

"Guess what? Mr. Williams put this on a bulletin board in our common room. How fun does this sound?" Lizzie asks, showing Josie the flyer, who takes the flailing paper, so she can read it intently.

"So, the event starts tomorrow. We're going right?" Lizzie questions excitedly, looking at Josie, who smiles at the flyer and nods at her sister in agreement that they are in fact, going.

"Yay! So what era are we doing for tomorrow night's dance?" Lizzie wonders then the twins start contemplating on what to wear.


	5. Bleak Attempts

**A/N: This is not the last chapter of the story, this is just the last chapter I have plans for. If you want more of the story, write reviews about what you want to see happen and I'll see what I can do.**

The next afternoon, Lizzie is in the shower while Josie, wearing a robe, is working on her hair in the mirror when there's a knock on the door.

"Enter." Josie says as she continues focusing on curling her hair.

Dorian walks in and Josie puts down the curling iron then turns to face him.

"Hey, what's up?" Josie asks, confused on why he's there.

"Uh, I just wanted to thank you for convincing me to throw this party. Some of the students are already in the main hall, saying how fun it's going to be and it hasn't even started yet." Dorian explains causing Josie to smile broadly.

"Also, I wanted to remind you if you and your sister knew that you have to wear masks to this event?" Dorian wonders and Josie nods understandingly.

"Yep, our masks are right there." Josie points to a box on one of the beds and Dorian just nods, smiling.

"Good, then I'll leave you to getting ready. Now I have to go to everybody else's, who isn't already at the party, dorm rooms and remind them about wearing masks. Wish me luck." Dorian adds causing Josie to chuckle then he leaves and she goes back to curling her hair in the mirror.

"Hey, did you pick out a dress for me yet?" Lizzie shouts from the shower.

"Uh, yeah. I think you'll love it. I chose the fifties era." Josie shouts back as she continues to curl her hair.

"Ooh, great. Can't wait to see what you picked." Lizzie claims then goes back to showering.

Josie slides on her dress, which is dark blue with white polka dots, then puts on her white flats, and starts styling her hair when Lizzie finally gets out of the shower.

Josie managed styling half of her hair before Lizzie got out, so she started focusing on her twin's hair, since neither of them want to be late to this first party.

After Lizzie's hair was put in a fifties-looking ponytail with a diamond leaf hair piece, she slides on her own dress, which is a light blue with white polka dots, then also slides on her white open-toed lace heels with a bow on top.

"Well, are you coming?" Lizzie asks as she puts on her mask, after Josie helped zipper up her dress.

"Uh, yeah, I'll be right behind you. I just need to finish up my hair." Josie replies and Lizzie just leaves with a smile on her face.

Josie is putting the finishing touches on her fifties up-do, she notices an envelope in between her mattress and her boxspring.

She walks over to her bed, removes the envelope from its hiding spot and opens it, removing a pendant on a long chain from it.

Curious, she looks in the envelope to see who it's from, but there's no note.

Josie just shrugs, then looks at the necklace again and smiles before putting it on.

She finishes up her hairstyle, puts on her mask, then leaves to go to the party.

Josie finds herself meeting up with Lizzie, who's outside the entrance of the party.

"What are doing here? I thought you'd be partying it up." Josie says revealing her belief.

"It didn't feel right entering without you. You look great by the way." Lizzie compliments her, which makes Josie smile then they enter the party, that is now in full swing, together.

When they walk in, Josie immediately notices a long-haired brunette in black leggings, a corset tank top, a biker jacket, black high heeled, open-toed shoes and a black dangle choker necklace with a gorgeous black mask that matches the rest of her outfit, which is black.

Josie can't tell who it is, as she only saw her for a split second, but there was something familiar about her hair and the red lips she had.

"Alright, let's mingle." Lizzie walks away from Josie in order to mingle, giving Josie time to talk to that fifties biker chic.

She gets completely down the steps, when she stops to turn around, because the Dj announced that someone entered, only to be totally stunned by a girl in a gorgeous white mask that compliments her authentic, layered light pink 17th century dress with silver lace at the hems of each part including on the sleeves.

The girl walks down the steps, seemingly ignoring Josie, who notices her extravagant hairstyle, that has four white flowers randomly placed about her hair.

Josie remained completely stunned for a few moments, even after she walked away, before shaking it off and going to find the biker chic she saw when she first entered.

"Oh, excuse me." Josie says bumping into a guy, who's outfit seems to match the girl who was the most recent walk in after her and Lizzie.

"No problem. Hey, have you seen my date?" the guy asks, his voice revealing him to be Landon.

"Uh, I saw her walk in that general direction." Josie claims, pointing to a different part of the room.

The guy looks where she's pointing, "Ah, I see her. Thanks." he says then walks away, letting Josie finally be able to find that biker chic.

She eventually sees a long curly ponytail, black leggings, and matching biker jacket, so she taps on the girl's shoulder causing her to turn around.

"Hey Penelope." Josie says, knowing her identity the second she turned around, which makes Penelope smile at her.

"Hey Jo Jo. Hmm, seems like we both went fifties. It looks good on you." Penelope states with a smile after she checks her out, which puts a smile on Josie's face.

"So you like the party?" Josie asks, which confuses Penelope, who shrugs it off.

"I think the shin-dig's great." A familiar male voice comes from behind Penelope, who Josie realizes as Kaleb.

"You only like the 'shin-dig' because of the food." Penelope retorts and Kaleb goes back eating food off the table, wearing an outfit that resembles Penelope's.

"Let's talk outside." Penelope demands but Josie stops her.

"Look." Josie advises and Penelope looks to a blonde in a light blue with white polka dot dress talking to a guy, looking like he came from Grease, who Penelope can identify as MG.

"Who's MG talking to?" Penelope questions, confused.

"That would be Lizzie." Josie responds with a smug smile on her face, this answer causes Penelope to side glance Josie then look back to see Lizzie and MG start to slow dance.

"Like I said, we're talking outside." Before Josie can retaliate or say anything, Penelope drags them both outside.

"Why did you ask me if I liked the party?" Penelope asks, confusing Josie.

"I don't know what you mean." Josie claims, genuinely confused.

"Let's get one thing straight, it being neither of us, no one asks if someone likes a party unless… they planned it." Penelope explains, hesitating before she finished her sentence, then looks at Josie, who has a guilty facial expression.

"Jo Jo, did you plan this party?" Penelope interrogates causing Josie to look down at the ground.

"No, but I might've given Mr. Williams the idea to throw a party." Josie reveals, shocking Penelope.

"So, you whisper in Mr. Williams' ear, he throws a party, then this event gets MG and Lizzie dancing together? I'm impressed." Penelope says with a smirk, which causes Josie to smile shyly at her.

"Although, I am a little hurt that you didn't come to me when you decided to get MG and Lizzie together." Penelope admits with a frown.

"Well I wanted to show you what I could do by myself and I say it's a mini victory." Josie flaunts happily which makes Penelope smile.

"It was a good move, a bleak attempt, but a good move. How about we work together for the remainder of this tedious game?" Penelope suggests, a suggestion that makes Josie smile broadly.

After a moment of smiling at each other, Kaleb walks out.

"Hey, high five." Kaleb and Josie high five.

"What was that for?" Josie asks, confused.

"For you getting MG and Lizzie to dance together." Kaleb says plainly, indicating he was eavesdropping on them, which causes both of them to roll their eyes.

"Also if this is going to be a game, I say we call it the Mizzie Get Together Supporters." Kaleb suggests.

"No. That is way too long and a mouthful to say." Josie claims making Penelope chuckle.

"Can I join you guys in this game?" Rafael's voice comes from behind Josie.

"I have nothing better to do and getting two people together sounds like fun. Especially if it stops Lizzie to keep trying to pursue me. No offence, Josie." Rafael states after explaining why he would like to be involved.

"None taken. So what do we call this game?" Josie wonders, and the four of them start thinking.

"How about the Mizzie Shipper's Quest?" Rafael suggests with a shrug, getting the rest of them to think.

"I like it." Josie says.

"So do I." Kaleb pipes up.

"Then it's official." Penelope states. "Let the Mizzie Shipper's Quest begin."


	6. I'm So Thankful For

The day after the dance, Josie, Penelope, Rafael, and Kaleb are in Dr. Saltzman's office.

"So, what are we doing in the headmaster's office?" Rafael asks breaking the silence.

"Well, I'm making plans for Thanksgiving and it's quiet in here. Well it was anyway." Josie explains then rolls her eyes and looks at Kaleb when she says her second statement, as Kaleb has a large Panda Express takeout box with chow mein and he put orange chicken in it, that he eats with chopsticks.

"Do you ever stop eating?" Penelope questions, annoyed.

"It's called keeping a low profile. I already got busted for feeding off locals once, and I do not want to get locked in that cellar again." Kaleb states, revealing why he's been eating a lot, with his mouth full.

"Thus, I eat to curb the cravings." Kaleb adds after swallowing and picking up a piece of chicken as though he's making a toast to them with it before putting it in his mouth.

"Jo Jo, Thanksgiving is next week. Why are you planning for it now?" Penelope asks, confused after pointing out a fact.

"Exactly, it's next week. Also, I'm not planning for Thanksgiving dinner, I'm planning games and activities to do. I'm thinking mostly team games, like Charades or Battleship." Josie reveals, making Penelope good-naturedly roll her eyes as Josie continuously writes on her clipboard.

"Ooh, how about Chess or Checkers?" Rafael suggests happily but Josie shakes her head.

"I already have those on the list Raf, sorry." Josie apologizes and Rafael goes back to thinking.

"How about Spin the Bottle?" Kaleb wonders but Penelope shuts the idea down.

"No. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving with Emma, Mr. Williams, and Dr. Saltzman, all of whom I doubt would be interested in playing." Penelope exclaims.

"Besides, Landon doesn't even know what to do after you Spin the Bottle." Rafael admits, agreeing with Penelope.

"Neither does Hope." Josie pipes up and Penelope just rolls her eyes in annoyance.

"Oh, so Landon and Hope are perfect for each other. Good to know." Penelope scoffs in disgust, clearly not liking Hope and Landon as a couple.

"What about Life, Sorry, Connect 4?" Rafael suggests, and Josie thinks about them.

"I mean, the activities can't just be made up of two player games, especially when a lot of people will be celebrating Thanksgiving with us." Rafael explains causing Josie to nod understandingly and then write down Rafael's suggestions.

"How about Truth or Dare?" Penelope recommends and Josie nods again, seeing it as an appropriate game for the students and teachers to play.

"Strip Poker." Kaleb adds but Josie shakes her head.

"No one knows how to play Poker but you, Kaleb." Penelope reveals, shocking Rafael as he thought Penelope knew how to play poker.

"Fine, how about Yahtzee?" Kaleb puts out and Josie writes it down.

"Aggravation and Monopoly." Penelope says causing Josie to write those down as well.

"What about Operation? It's Landon's favorite game." Rafael admits.

"Let's get one thing straight, Operation is a one player hellhole game that gives everyone either anxiety, suicidal thoughts, a hemorrhage, or all of the above. With that said, it shall not and will not be played. That is, of course , if Landon actually cares about anybody's sanity." Kaleb rants then goes back to eating his chinese food.

"Kaleb's right, nobody likes Operation." Penelope claims as she agrees with Kaleb.

"Alright, I get it. How about Scene It?" Rafael makes a last suggestion.

"Which one?" Kaleb asks confused, after he slurps up a noodle.

"Why pick one? If we have a majority of them, then we can play who knows what better." Josie exclaims enthusiastically and then writes down Scene It as the last on her list.

Penelope is now looking at the list of games on the clipboard, seemingly approving each one.

"Why don't we remove the strictly two player games? So no one will be bored watching others play." Penelope explains after suggesting and Josie nods in agreement.

"Minus Poker, most of these are card games. Which is good, a lot of people like card games." Penelope states and then removes the strictly two player games from the list.

"Perfect. Now we wait for Thanksgiving." Penelope says more cheerful than usual when the door opens, causing them all to turn and see the headmaster standing in the doorway, clearly not expecting to see people in his office.

"Dad. I totally forgot you were returning today." Josie realizes genuinely forgetful.

"We were just leaving." Penelope lies and she leaves dragging Kaleb out with her.

"Yeah, welcome back." Rafael greets then follow Penelope and Kaleb out of the office.

"You look exhausted." Josie points out as Alaric yawns.

"I am. A very long day yesterday and it remains with me today." Alaric admits then sits on the couch in his office.

"How was the trip?" Josie asks, curiously but Alaric yawns again and grabs the blanket from on top of the couch.

"I'll tell you tomorrow." Alaric falls asleep after the blanket falls on his legs and he puts his head on the armrest.

"Ok, I look forward to it." Josie whispers while she tucks him in and quietly leaves the room.

The four of them head to Penelope's dorm because no one but her enters it.

"Well now what? We already made plans for Thanksgiving activities." Kaleb wonders but Penelope just smirks at them.

"Now, we try to get MG and Lizzie together anyway we can before Thanksgiving." Penelope states proudly, still smirking.

For the next several days, only Rafael managed to get them to interact with each other but actually getting them together was a hard battle in his opinion.

"What are we doing?" Rafael sighs out, exhausted, as he lies on Penelope's bed while everyone else is standing around.

"Trying to MG and Lizzie together." Penelope answers, sounding annoyed.

"I know that but like what does it mean?" Rafael asks, voicing his clear confusion.

"That Lizzie and MG are both happy." Josie responds, but Rafael rolls his eyes at this.

"Yeah, MG was happy with you and Lizzie was happy with becoming an independent woman. So I honestly think that we're just doing this because we're bored." Rafael assumes and the fact the room's silent just proves he is right.

"Then why join the game?" Penelope questions in an annoyed yet low tone.

"I'm bored and have nothing else to do. But I think the better question is why did you start this game?" Rafael retorts after he answers her question and Penelope gets quiet as though she doesn't even know why.

"Well, Lizzie was ranting about him yesterday on how he dropped books on her." Josie claims, changing the subject and making Rafael smile to himself.

"Go figure. I knew pouring some water on the floor would do the trick. MG's holding books, Lizzie's walking in the opposite direction, MG slips and his books land on her. I think it was a pretty good move." Rafael says, imitating how the interaction went, and also implying that he was behind the entire thing.

"Ughh. Thanksgiving is in two days, and it appears that only Rafael got them to interact. Okay, only once but still." Penelope sighs out in annoyance.

"Maybe we should just use Christmas as a marker instead. Then we will have more time for more stunts and what-not." Kaleb suggests and everyone seems to agree to this when Josie's phone goes off.

"Hey Lizzie." Josie says once she answers it and everyone else looks at her, panicked.

"What, no. I didn't know that. I'm sure it was just an accident. Ok, see you back at the dorm." Josie ends the call, looking confused.

"What was that all about?" Penelope wonders but Josie just shakes her head.

"I have no idea but I'm going to go figure it out." Josie states then leaves the dorm in order to talk to Lizzie.

Josie walks into her and Lizzie's dorm room only to find her twin meditating and wearing a pink fluffy robe, with wet hair.

"What happened? You seemed distressed." Josie says calmly as she hesitantly walks closer to her twin.

"I'll tell you what happened. I was just having a conversation with MG, apologizing for yelling at him as he apologized for dropping books on me and then out of nowhere, I got assaulted with a paintball gun before I could walk away." Lizzie reveals sounding very upset.

"Hence the reason you took a shower." Josie clarifies and Lizzie nods in agreement.

"Exactly, and it turns out it was a pre-made prank created by MG." Lizzie scoffs with disgust, clearly not liking MG, and not noticing that Josie's texting someone.

"Well maybe he'll make it up to you." Josie suggests after pocketing her phone.

"I'd like to see him try. Ughh, I am now reminded why wanted to be an independent woman. Men suck." Lizzie huffs in annoyance and then goes back to meditating, while Josie looks at her phone.

She had texted Penelope, who responded with a text that read:

'_That is not good. Do whatever you have to do to fix it.'_

Josie looks down at the text again, re-reading it twice before silently gulping nervously.

"You can't hate MG during the spirit of Thanksgiving. I mean, the holiday expects you to be thankful for something." Josie advises, trying to fix the mess of the prank without making Lizzie suspicious of her.

"You're right, I should be thankful and I am. I'm so thankful for you, mom, dad, our aunt Bonnie, our uncle Damon, and you, again, because I'm thankful that I have you for an amazing sister." Lizzie smiles widely at Josie after saying who she's thankful for and Josie smiles back at her, very happy by what she said, before realizing what needs to do.

"Well, can you at least give MG a second chance, at Thanksgiving?" Josie questions, curiously, causing Lizzie to sigh in defeat.

"Fine, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, and because you asked, I'll give MG another chance but only one." Lizzie claims causing Josie to smile shyly in response, seemingly fixing it temporarily until MG does.

Two days later, everyone's setting up for the spirit of Thanksgiving except for one person that isn't there, which Josie notices.

"Uh, where's Hope?" Josie asks, looking around in confusion.

"Has anyone seen Hope?" Josie raises her voice a bit as she continues to look around for her causing everyone who's setting up to shake their heads, meaning that they haven't, and they go back to work.

"The entire school's supposed to be celebrating Thanksgiving and for some reason, Hope isn't here." Josie murmurs under her breath confused and annoyed, then notices Landon, who she runs up to, walk in.

"Hey, Landon. Where's Hope?" Josie questions and Landon looks around for a moment before answering.

"Uh, not here. She said she'd be helping you with setting up but she doesn't seem to be doing so." Landon reveals then states the obvious as he starts looking around for her.

Josie rolls her eyes then walks over to her dad, who says that he hasn't seen Hope either, which is when Lizzie walks up and berates him.

"Oh, I'm shocked you don't know where Hope is. I mean she is your star pupil, so you should have tabs on her 24/7, right?" Lizzie wonders with an annoyed tone then rolls her eyes and walks away after Josie gives her a look.

"Can you just let me know if you see her?" Josie suggests and Ric nods in agreement causing Josie to smile at him then walk away to help set up with the rest of them.

An hour of setting up later, Josie is getting nervous, wondering where Hope could be as she has yet to make an appearance to help set up.

Josie decides to leave Thanksgiving set up and look for her, starting with Hope's dorm.

She knocks on the door and when nothing happens, she knocks again.

"Go away." Hope's voice comes from the room, sounding cracked.

"It's Josie. You promised to help with setting up." Josie reminds her but this doesn't cause Hope to open the door.

"I changed my mind. I thought my absence would of been taken as a hint." Hope's tone sounds angry yet still cracked, as though she's upset.

"Can I come in?" Josie asks gently.

"No. Go away, I'm in no mood for company." Hope claims but Josie persists.

"Please talk to me. Hope. I'm worried." Josie pleads then she hears the door unlock and creak open, implying that Hope used magic to open the door.

So, Josie walks in Hope's dorm, where she's sitting on the bed with a large tub of ice cream in her lap, that she eats grumpily.

"What do you want?" Hope questions, still grumpy yet her eyes are wet, which shows that she's clearly cried or has been crying at some point in the day.

"Are you okay?" Josie asks, ignoring Hope's bitterness.

"Do you actually care?" Hope wonders before shoving a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, mildly concerning Josie.

"Yes I do. We're friends, and like I said, I am worried about you." Josie admits causing Hope to sigh in frustration as she tries to get another spoonful of ice cream out of its tub.

"I understand the whole tradition of Thanksgiving and I hate it because for the past two years I've had nothing to be thankful for. Most of my family is dead and the rest stopped staying in contact with me. Well, except for my brother." Hope adds after revealing why she's been locked in her room, causing Josie to look at her sympathetically.

"You have me." Josie claims in a soft murmured tone as looks down at the floor, but Hope heard this comment and looks up at her in shock.

"You know what you need?" Josie asks, taking out her phone and starting to text someone, the question catching Hope's attention, but she ultimately rolls her eyes and gives a sarcastic yet probably serious response.

"More chunky monkey?" Hope replies in a sarcastic yet clearly serious tone as she eats another spoonful.

"No. You need to take your mind off of it." Josie responds with a smile, but Hope shakes her head.

"Actually, I do need more ice cream. I just ate the last spoonful of this." Hope reveals sadly as she looks in the tub, only seeing the bottom of it and no ice cream in sight.

"Hope, that's a very large tub of ice cream. When did you start eating that?" Josie questions, clearly concerned for Hope.

"When I got it." Hope answers vaguely as she scoops the ice cream that remains on the sides off.

"And when was that?" Josie wonders mildly amused by Hope's vague answer.

"Uh, two minutes after I promised Landon I'd help you set up. So about, probably seven hours ago, give or take." Hope explains eating the ice cream she scooped off the sides.

"That's not healthy." Josie realizes, horrified that Hope ate an entire large container of ice cream in seven hours, give or take but Hope just rolls her eyes.

"Well if you had nothing to be thankful for, you'd probably do it too." Hope retorts, still trying to get what remains off the sides after her retort caused Josie to go silent for a moment, knowing that Hope's right.

Josie shakes it off when the person she texted responded and she looks back up at Hope, then rolls her eyes when Hope keeps trying to get out whatever ice cream remains.

"How about a deal?" Josie suggests, catching Hope's attention.

"What kind of a deal?" Hope looks skeptical but intrigued which keeps Josie talking.

"I get you a new tub of ice cream, letting you mourn, if you help me and some others out with something." Josie responds, and Hope is officially and clearly intrigued by this deal.

"What do you need help with?" Hope asks, not even hiding how intrigued she is, which makes Josie smile broadly.

"How good are you at matchmaking?" Josie wonders and Hope looks at her curiously.

"Because me and a few others are having some difficulties. So, how would you like to help get MG and Lizzie together?" Hope nods approvingly of Josie's quest, agreeing that she'll happily be a part of it, especially if it means getting more ice cream.

"If it means I wound up with more ice cream and take my mind off of my life, I'd like to do nothing more than to help." Hope smiles broadly at Josie, who returns the smile.

After Josie explains the rules, the two then leave Hope's dorm, in order to help with the Thanksgiving set up.

Once the setting up is done, they all eat dinner then play the games that Josie wrote down on her clipboard a week ago.

Lizzie seems to having a fun time, even with MG as her partner while they play charades then it's guess the drawing, a suggestion Hope made simply because she wants to see if everyone has art talent.

Of course it's not a team game so everyone can guess and Landon is up first.

Landon starts aggressively drawing and everyone starts guessing after he shows them his stick figure drawing.

"Uh, a broomstick." Penelope guesses but he shakes his head then adds another stick figure.

"No, it's a, um, a bird." Kaleb suggests but Landon shakes his head again.

"Guys, he's clearly drawing people. So let's guess famous celebrities." Lizzie claims so everyone starts guessing celebrities.

"Uh, Timberlake." Dorian guesses but Landon shakes his head once more then points to the fact that he drew two stick figures before drawing a third one.

"Uh, it's a three person band." Penelope throws out and Landon thinks before tilting his hand, meaning she might be close but not quite there.

Then Landon adds a fourth stick figure and draws hair on each of them, symbolizing that they're girls.

"Ok, um, so they're a band?" Josie questions and Landon nods.

"Ok uh, are they famous?" Hope asks, confused yet amused by his drawings and Landon nods again before adding crappy looking hats.

"A famous country band." Lizzie assumes but Landon shakes his head then adds a fifth one and using a red pen, adds hair before giving her a crappy looking hat and they all realized that his stick figures have different hair colors.

Landon motions to the entire picture by circling it in the red pen, as though he's made it obvious and Rafael seems to have got it.

"Really dude? It's the Bratz Rock Angelz." Rafael answers and Landon breathes out heavily, as though he was holding his breath the entire time.

"I would've guessed that." Lizzie states, grumpy that Rafael got the reference before her.

"Ok, who's next on the drawing board?" Josie wonders and they keep playing various activities, where with most of the team games, Lizzie personally requested that MG were on her team, where as Josie was either on Hope's team or Penelope's team.

Yet, while on Penelope's team during a game, Josie informed that Hope was the person she recruited, implying that Penelope was the one one she texted before she got Hope involved.

For the first time in two years, Hope feels happy about celebrating Thanksgiving, yet she has only one question nagging at her; is she grateful that she has a boyfriend or is she grateful that she has Josie Saltzman, she might never know.

Josie is very happy that her plan worked as it seems MG and Lizzie have up from the paintball incident, and she sees Penelope smile then wink at her, indicating that she's happy Josie managed to fix the situation before it eventually fixed itself.


	7. A Sabotager in Our Midst?

Three days after the Thanksgiving party, the participants of the Mizzie Shipper's Quest were in Penelope's dorm room, contemplating what to do next.

Although Penelope is glad that they have a fifth member of the group, she hates the fact that now two members are constantly eating.

"Well, Thanksgiving was really fun. Especially since it helped fix MG and Lizzie's relationship." Josie breaks the silence in the room, having everyone nod in agreement.

"You know, I actually had fun. Especially when I challenged all of your art talents." Hope claims with a devious tone before eating more of her chunky monkey ice cream.

"Landon had to be the worst artist. But Lizzie came in close second with MG following." Hope declares causing the rest of them to chuckle a bit.

"Kaleb. Where the hell did you get Taco Bell?" Penelope asks, curious and annoyed.

"I think the better question is when. He didn't have that earlier." Rafael points out causing Penelope to roll her eyes.

"They give you a plastic spoon?" Hope questions, looking at Kaleb curiously.

Kaleb removes the spoon as well as a quesadilla from the bag and hands them both to Hope, who takes them happily.

She uses the spoon to take a scoop from her tub then hands it back to Kaleb, as they have apparently made a deal; he gets her a quesadilla, she gives him a spoonful of her ice cream.

Penelope gapes at them as though she can't believe the trade she just saw, but shakes it off in order to get back to thinking.

"Josie's right. Thanksgiving was a mini victory." Penelope agrees with what Josie said earlier, which causes her to smile.

"It was even more of one, since Lizzie kept personally requesting that MG was her teammate." Hope adds to Penelope's statement then shoves another spoonful into her already full mouth.

"Hope, aren't you lactose intolerant?" Rafael looks at her concerned but she just rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, but this is lactose free ice cream. AKA, my new best friend." Hope responds with a smile before eating yet another spoonful.

"Ok, any of you guys have any ideas?" Penelope wonders, looking around the room.

"I know. How about…" Kaleb is about to suggest something when Josie's phone goes off.

"I thought we agreed to put our phones on vibrate." Penelope reprimands Josie, who takes her phone from her pocket, nervously.

"Oh, it's Lizzie. If I don't pick up she's just going to keep calling." Josie admits, and Penelope rolls her eyes as she motions for Josie to answer her phone.

"Hey Lizzie." Josie says once she answers it.

"What? Hold on, go back. What happened? No, don't retaliate. I'll be right there." Josie assures her twin before ending the call.

"What was that about?" Rafael looks worried by the phone call as does everyone else in the room.

"I'll tell you when I know. I'll be right back." Josie runs out of Penelope's dorm room to check on Lizzie.

"Lizzie?" Josie walks into her and Lizzie's dorm room to find it empty but she hears the bathtub running, so she walks to the bathroom door.

"Lizzie, talk to me." Josie pleads after she knocks on the door, where she can hear soft crying from inside the bathroom.

"Um, I'm going to be taking a bath. We can talk later." Lizzie sounds upset as sniffs and wipes some tears from her eyes.

"Lizzie, please let me in." Josie begs her sister, who hesitantly opens the bathroom door, where she has some cuts and bruises on her face, which concerns Josie greatly.

"What happened?" Josie asks, looking concerned and worried for her twin.

"It was just a stupid accident. MG accidentally left his bag next to the staircase and I tripped over it, falling down two flights of stairs." Lizzie confesses as she cries before wiping the tears gently from her eyes.

Josie just embraces Lizzie in a soft hug that she reciprocates as she continues to cry.

"You didn't kill MG, did you?" Josie wonders and she feels Lizzie shake her head as they continue to hug.

"No. I knew it was an accident, but I still got hurt badly." Lizzie assures Josie that MG's still alive yet the rest of her statement continues to worry and concern Josie.

"How badly did you get hurt?" Josie's tone of voice is clearly more worried than concerned, but she still has concerns.

"Um." Lizzie backs out of the hug and lifts up her shirt to show Josie bruises on her stomach mainly but she has some on her ribs and her one wrist looks broken as she's holding her shirt up with one hand.

"The damage that two flights of stairs can do to a person." Lizzie forces a laugh with some dry humor as she drops her shirt.

"Are any ribs broken?" Josie questions, looking like she's going to cry from Lizzie's state.

"No. Luckily not." Lizzie claims, assuring Josie, who nods gratefully at the fact nothing but her one wrist is broken.

"I'll let you take your bath. I just needed to check on you, to make sure you don't do anything bad." Josie states then starts to back away.

"What, you mean like slit my wrists or something? I wouldn't, I have way too much to live for." Lizzie calls after her and this comment makes Josie smile.

Lizzie heads into the bathroom and Josie walks out of the dorm, heading back to Penelope's dorm.

She just walks in without knocking, shocked to see everyone exactly where they were when she left, the only difference being Kaleb finished his tacos and is now eating fruit snacks.

"You were gone for a while. Is Lizzie okay?" Penelope looks genuinely concerned about Lizzie for once and Josie just sighs.

"Um, apparently MG accidentally left his backpack near the stairs and Lizzie tripped over it, falling down two flights of stairs. She has a broken wrist, along with some cuts and bruises, but she'll live." Josie explains as she tries to hold herself together and not cry.

"Is she with Emma?" Rafael asks, also looking genuinely concerned for Lizzie.

"No, she's at the dorm, taking a bath. She said she'd visit Emma later while we spoke on the phone." Josie says, looking worried about her sister.

"But then again, she said she'd do that after she killed MG. Which she didn't do." Josie adds quickly after bringing up more of the phone call.

"I might be the only one thinking this. But I feel like someone's trying to ruin our game." Kaleb says abruptly, catching all of their attention.

"I mean, Rafael getting Lizzie to rant about MG. Lizzie complains about a pre-made prank from him that gets her assaulted by paint gun. Now, Lizzie and MG enjoying Thanksgiving, only for Lizzie to get critically injured because he left his bag by the stairs. You can call it a coincidence but I call it sabotage." Kaleb makes good points before he pops more fruit snacks in his mouth.

"You make good points, Kaleb. There's only one problem with your theory, there was no form of retaliation when they danced together at the era ball." Josie points out, causing all of them to think.

"It doesn't matter about the forms of retaliation. I mean, if whoever actually pulled those stunts are trying to prevent them from getting together, why make scenarios happen that wound up with them talking?" Rafael wonders, making all of them very confused by this.

"He has a point. I mean, why go through all the trouble to prevent it, when they just end up interacting as a result?" Hope questions with a mouthful of ice cream before putting a larger scoop in her mouth.

"Unless, this person is actually helping, and not sabotaging us. The last two times there was a retaliation, Lizzie started ranting about MG more. So, maybe this person is helping in the only way they know how." Josie suggests, and although it's clear that she doesn't like this person's tactics, she makes a good point that gets them all thinking about it.

"Okay, all of you have made very good points but thinking about all these theories and possibilities is making my head hurt tremendously." Penelope admits as she grabs her head like it's in pain.

"Well, you know what they say, everything for the first time is hard." Josie murmurs under her breath after chuckling darkly, but her murmur was louder than a usual one, so all of them heard her comment.

"Says you." Penelope retorts bitterly causing Josie to take a step closer to her.

"Are you provoking me?" Josie remarks, walking even closer to her.

"You provoked me first. But I really don't think you should be insulting me about first times." Penelope recommends but these seemed to be wrong words.

"You think you know something?" Josie is pretty close to Penelope's face as they provoke each other.

"I know I know something." Penelope claims with her eyebrows raised that causes Josie to tackle her to the ground, getting into a small tussle.

"Should we stop them?" Kaleb wonders, leaning towards Hope.

"Why? This day just got interesting." Hope appears to be amused by this fight between Penelope and Josie as she continues to eat her tub of ice cream.

However, the 'entertaining' fight comes to an end when Josie makes this high-pitched yell as she grabs her left arm, and Penelope immediately gets concerned about her ex.

"What's wrong?" Penelope looks concerned as Josie holds her arm in pain.

"Lizzie must've done something. Twin pain kind of sucks sometimes, but it's helpful, as it informs me that something's wrong." Josie looks more relaxed as she lets her arm go.

"Maybe her wrist was just getting re-cracked in place?" Rafael suggests but Josie shakes her head.

"No, I've had a broken wrist before, so I know what it feels like to have it put back in place. The pain that I just recently felt was something different. Like a lack of elevation, or something." Josie explains, disagreeing with Rafael's suggestion.

"I've known you for like, ten years and I've never seen you walking around with a broken wrist, once." Hope speaks up, looking at Josie confused.

"That's because I went to Emma immediately after it happened." Josie assures but Hope shakes her head.

"No, everybody knows that when you have a broken wrist, broken or put back, you have a cast on it for at least a week. Even with medicinal herbs, like the ones Emma that use." Hope calls Josie out, and this seems to make Josie mildly uncomfortable.

"Well, I used a healing spell." Josie sputters out kind of awkwardly, which indicates that she might be lying.

"Wait. How did you even break your wrist?" Rafael pipes in on the conversation, asking the question Josie never wanted asked.

"Um, football game. Yeah, I caught the ball all wrong and I felt my wrist just snap." Josie lies but since everyone knows that she is, in fact, on the football team, it works especially since Hope is never present at those games, Kaleb is a newer student along with MG, Penelope's there yet doesn't fully pay attention, and Rafael didn't even know they had a football team, let alone that Josie was on it, until a week ago when Lizzie asked if he wanted to join the team.

All of them look slightly skeptical, but they eventually decide to let it go since they are supposed to be focusing on ways to get MG and Lizzie together.

"This is pointless." Kaleb sighs out annoyed, catching everyone in the room's attention.

"Getting MG and Lizzie together is not pointless." Josie remarks to Kaleb's comment.

"Not our goal, our meetings. I mean, unless we're all here because we like Penelope's dorm, being here is pretty pointless. I think we should space these meetings out instead of everyday, that way when we do have a meeting, somebody might actually surprise us by doing something helpful." Kaleb rants, making a good point and they all seem to agree with this suggestion.

"Okay, but we should schedule when we should meet." Josie assumes but Kaleb shakes his head.

"No, that's just going to get MG and Lizzie suspicious, because we're each going to make up a different lie, except Hope, and they'll be hot on our trail. How about we just text each other to meet up if something goes wrong, we have a plan that involves the group, or an interaction happened because of our doing?" Kaleb makes another good suggestion but Hope, feeling mildly offended by his one statement, speaks up.

"Wait. Why aren't I coming up with a lie?" Hope wonders and Kaleb rolls his eyes at this.

"Because neither Lizzie nor MG talk to you. I mean, even if they did, I'm sure you'd just tell them you'll be in your dorm consuming tubs of chunky monkey, and that's not lying. The only thing that would make it a lie is that your not actually in your own dorm room." Kaleb retorts, this comment making Hope realize that he has a point so she just shrugs.

"All right, we will have another meeting when one of us has news. Now, get the hell out of my dorm room." Penelope demands and the four of them leave to contemplate what to do next to get MG and Lizzie together.

Well, three of them contemplate, Josie runs to check on Lizzie, who's still in their dorm room with Emma.

"What happened?" Josie looks confused and concerned by the sight of Emma in her dorm room tending to Lizzie.

"I made a mistake. I tried to re-crack by wrist with my lamp and accidentally broke my forearm." Lizzie admits while Emma shakes her head, disapprovingly of Lizzie's methods as she continues to tend to her left arm, as well as her bruises since Lizzie's shirt is lifted up.

Josie was thinking of mentioning the twin pain she felt earlier but decides against it, as it might make Lizzie suspicious as to where she was, if she wasn't already, that is.

**A/N: So, Hope's involved in the scheme, Kaleb will NOT stop eating, and Lizzie keeps getting into sticky situations. I wonder how MG's going to fix this dilemma. Is there really someone trying to sabotage the group? Or is it an ally? Also, who could this mystery being be? **


	8. Girls Have Too Many Secrets

For the next week, there haven't been any meetings since Lizzie doesn't leave the dorm room because she's afraid of falling down another two flights of stairs and Josie doesn't blame her but Lizzie's persistence of not leaving the dorm puts a small kink in Josie's plan of trying to get her with MG.

Josie walks into her and Lizzie's dorm room only to find Lizzie adjusting a jacket she's wearing in the mirror.

"You're out of bed." Josie sounds very shocked causing Lizzie to turn and face her.

"Yep. I'm going to head into town. I apparently need new jackets, as all of my other ones don't fit anymore. Which is so weird because they fit before I broke my wrist/forearm." Lizzie points out the weirdness in none of her jackets fitting.

"It's probably dad's doing. He has a habit of putting dry-clean only clothes in the washing machine." Josie reminds Lizzie, who nods in agreement then turns to face the mirror again.

"You want to come with?" Lizzie wonders as she removes her jacket carefully then gasps in excitement.

"Yes, you can come with. And you can invite Hope, Emma, and maybe I'll let Penelope join too. We can go girl's shopping. Oh, it would be so much fun, as long as Penelope and Hope are on good behavior that is, then we can get lunch and…" Lizzie is very enthusiastic in making plans about spending time with the girls that Josie has to calm her down.

"Okay, let's take it down a notch. You're starting to scare me, but a girl's day out sounds fun." Josie agrees to the day out after informing Lizzie that she's scaring her.

"Really?" Lizzie has a bright smile that Josie loves seeing on her face and she nods in agreement before making a pitch.

"It doesn't have to just be a girl's day, we can invite like Kaleb, Rafael, maybe even Mr. Williams." Josie suggests causing Lizzie to think about it for a moment before nodding, seemingly agreeing to it.

"Of course, and Landon can come to. But I draw the line at MG being apart of this." Lizzie adds quickly causing Josie to frown.

"You know that MG doesn't like being left out of things." Josie reminds Lizzie of this and she just scoffs.

"Maybe I don't care about what MG does and doesn't like. I mean, he almost killed me. Accident or not, I still could have died." Lizzie claims very bitterly as she pouts but doesn't cross her arms.

"You could give him anoth…" Josie starts but Lizzie knows what she's going to say, so she cuts her off.

"No, no more chances. I told you I would give him only one more chance during the Thanksgiving party and so I did. Then he ruined that chance by leaving his bag by stairs, critically injuring and nearly killing me. So no, he doesn't get another chance." Lizzie sounds angry as she tells Josie how it is, going so far as to bring up their conversation from before the party which causes Josie to sigh in defeat.

"Okay, but the least you can do is tell him why he isn't invited, so he won't tag along as someone else's plus one and bug you." Josie points out causing Lizzie to look less angry and frown as she thinks about this for a moment.

"I haven't talked to him since the accident. Do you think you can come with me, so I don't punch him across the face for being an idiot?" Lizzie asks as she looks at Josie with pleading eyes, which mostly means that she isn't taking no for an answer on this.

"Sure." Josie nods in agreement, her being the first person to get them talking in a week, and Lizzie gives her a small smile of appreciation in return.

So, Lizzie and Josie head to where MG is, which is in the gym working out and they walk up to him.

"Hey, MG." Josie greets him which causes him to place the weight back and sit up in order to look at them.

"Hey, Josie. Hi, Lizzie. Do you need help with something?" MG wonders skeptically after greeting them so Josie looks at Lizzie, who seems evasive and uncomfortable being there.

"We came to inform you that the two of us, along with some other students, are going to be hanging out in town." Josie speaks for Lizzie, who continues to not look at MG.

"Okay. Is this an invitation?" MG looks confused and also seems hurt that Lizzie isn't paying much attention to him.

"No, it's not. This is an un-invitation, meaning you can't come." Lizzie says quickly, this being the first thing she's said since she walked in, hurting MG.

"Um, okay. Why can't I tag along?" MG questions, seeming genuinely confused which has Lizzie scoff at his fake ignorance.

"You don't remember leaving your backpack near the staircase several days ago?" Lizzie retorts in a mildly rude tone.

"I was wondering where that went. I was in a hurry to get somewhere and it must of fell off my shoulder when some student bumped into me." MG reveals, meaning that he didn't leave it there on purpose or accident.

"Well, do you know who that student was?" Josie interrogates, sounding curious but MG just shakes his head.

"Nope, wore a hood which they kept up and their head down. They didn't even excuse themself." MG sounds slightly offended by the student's lack of manners.

"So, you're still not invited because the student who bumped your bag off your shoulder was left near the stairs. I could have died." Lizzie goes back to an angry tone which informs MG that she must have tripped over it.

"He didn't even know his bag was there, Lizzie." Josie defends MG but Lizzie remains bitter.

"It doesn't matter. Whether he actually left it there or someone bumped it off of him, somebody at this school might just want me dead and are trying to pin it on him." Lizzie believes as she points at MG while saying this, which gets Josie thinking.

"Well, you're right. Whether it was bumped off or left there on purpose, it was still my bag. I'm sorry that you got hurt because of it." MG apologizes to Lizzie, the apology sounding very genuine which seems to alter Lizzie's mood and her decision.

"Thank you." Lizzie looks touched by the apology as it removed the bitterness in voice.

"You know, if you want, um, the invitation can be an open one. Unless, you don't want to tag along." Lizzie's voice is soft and awkward as she revokes the un-invitation, which shocks MG and impresses Josie, who smiles to herself.

"Uh, okay. Let me just get cleaned up." MG agrees to the invitation then leaves for the locker room.

"I thought you weren't giving him a second chance." Josie whispers, pointing out Lizzie's words from earlier.

"I'm not. I just thought he might want to spend some time outside the school." Lizzie remarks then walks out of the gym leaving Josie looking after her and shaking her head at Lizzie's 'disinterest' before she follows her out in order to recruit the rest of the people who were supposed to be part of the former girl's day out.

Although Hope was very hesitant to leave her dorm, she ultimately agreed, seeing it as an excuse to get more clothes, claiming that she needed new ones.

Landon only agreed because Hope and Rafael were going, although he doesn't know why Rafael would want to go shopping or maybe he agreed because they were going to be eating lunch, who actually knows, Landon doesn't.

They're all around a store, shopping for things when Josie drags Penelope into the girl's bathroom, completely unnoticed.

"Um, I'm going to be honest, I prefer the dorm beds." Penelope admits, revealing that she believes Josie grabbed her for a quickie but Josie just rolls her eyes at this.

"Ughh, I just got some interesting information." Josie tells Penelope, which catches her interest as she motions for Josie to continue.

"So, it turns out MG's bag wasn't near the stairs because he put it there. It was knocked off his shoulder when someone bumped into him. Also, Lizzie is under the impression that someone at our school is trying to kill her and frame MG." Josie explains what she learned to Penelope, who seems shocked by this information.

"You should also know that I'm behind this no longer being a girl's trip as Lizzie was originally planning." Josie adds, impressing Penelope greatly.

"I'm assuming that you also had something to with the fact that MG's here." Penelope knows Josie, who nods in agreement then walks closer to Penelope.

"How about I show you?" Josie suggests in a flirtatious tone then kisses her on the mouth, which is something that Penelope reciprocates.

The kiss lasts for about two minutes before Josie pulls away but still remains close to her, leaving Penelope gasping as though she's processing something.

"Well done. Now…" Penelope starts to talk about making plans of what to do next after she compliments Josie's tactics when Lizzie walks into the bathroom, looking shocked about what she's seeing as Josie and Penelope are still very close to each other.

"Oh, uh, I can just come back later." Lizzie motions behind her, sounding awkward and clearly assuming that Josie's getting back with her ex.

"No, it's not what it looks like. We were just leaving actually." Josie assures Lizzie, not bringing up that she kissed Penelope, then walks out with Penelope following suit.

Lizzie watches on suspiciously but shrugs it off and uses the bathroom.

"That was weird." Penelope points out to Josie, who nods in agreement.

"We'll have a meeting when the day's over." Josie claims and Penelope nods then walks away after she stares at Josie's mouth for a moment.

Lizzie, who's still suspicious of her interrupting a conversation between her twin and the evil ex, decides to question Hope about it.

"Hey, Hope." Lizzie just walks up to her, startling her and causing her to nearly drop what she was holding.

"Lizzie, I could've dropped this." Hope shows her a cute snow globe before putting back where she found it.

"What's going on between Penelope and Josie?" Lizzie gets straight to the point causing Hope to look confused.

"What do you mean?" Hope asks, genuinely confused.

"I caught the two of them in the bathroom, like ridiculously close and when I said something, Josie claimed that it was nothing of what I thought it was." Lizzie explains in a whisper which makes Hope curious.

"I don't know anything about that but it's definitely weird." Hope admits but Lizzie refuses to believe her.

"Oh please, you and Josie are like best friends. And you also seem to be getting closer to Penelope, so if something is going on between them, can I trust you to tell me?" Lizzie wonders as she looks around to see if anyone's listening and Hope thinks about this for a minute.

"Yeah, if I figure out something's going on, I'll tell you." Hope replies causing Lizzie to smile at her before she frowns again.

"Did you bump into MG on the stairs a couple days ago?" Lizzie questions, looking curious and Hope thinks.

"No, I mean I bump into a lot of people at various times but a couple of days ago, I didn't even use the stairs. Why?" Hope seems to like talking to Lizzie, but only when the blonde approaches her.

"According to MG, a student bumped into him while he was on the stairs and it caused his backpack to fall off his shoulder, it landing near the stairs. So, when I was walking down the stairs to see the headmaster, I tripped on it, falling down two flights of stairs." Lizzie informs Hope, who looks shocked and horrified by this.

"I would ask if you're okay but you're still alive so although I'm concerned, I'm not too worried." Hope admits to Lizzie, who's touched that Hope's concerned about her.

"Well, I think it's a possibility that someone on campus is trying to kill me because before the stair incident, there was a paintball incident and although I told Josie that it was just a pre-made prank by MG, I lied. I mean, it was still planned by MG but I might have left something out." Lizzie reveals keeping Hope's attention, even though it was never lost.

"What did you leave out?" Hope looks concerned about Lizzie, who looks around yet again to ensure there's no eavesdroppers before sighing.

"You have to promise not to tell Josie." Lizzie pleads desperately causing Hope to look uncomfortable as well as look away evasively before looking back at Lizzie.

"I promise." Hope says, even though she looks uneasy about keeping something from Josie.

Lizzie sighs again and informs Hope of what she left out from the paintball incident.

Meanwhile, Josie and Penelope are looking from a distance, unable to hear what they're talking about.

"What do you think those two are talking about?" Penelope asks as she leans closer to Josie, who shrugs.

"I have no idea. It doesn't seem like a happy conversation though. But it's obvious that both are engaged in it as they're making direct eye contact with each other yet neither seem happy by what Lizzie's saying." Josie deduces all of this just by looking at their body language which causes Penelope to look at her in disbelief.

"Okay, Spencer Reid. What else can you tell me just by looking at their body language?" Penelope wonders in a snarky tone, referring Josie to a character on Criminal Minds, which makes Josie chuckle a bit.

"Nothing, because they're no longer talking." Josie points out and Penelope turns to see Hope placing a hand on Lizzie's arm then walk away to most likely continue shopping as Lizzie does the same.

Then they spend the rest of the day shopping and as much as Landon loves Hope, it's obvious that he, like most guys that have a girlfriend, doesn't like shopping also because he's pretty sure that half the things Hope bought she doesn't actually need but he isn't complaining since he agreed to go on the trip.

While no one was looking, MG went back in the store and bought something for Lizzie that he saw her clearly wanting, in order to give it to her for Christmas, like MG cares if Christmas isn't for another month, he likes planning ahead.

They all head back to the school, exhausted yet they all ended up having fun, including Landon, Kaleb, and Rafael, so they all part ways but when Josie was walking towards her dorm, she passed Hope's, which she gets pulled into by an invisible force.

"What the hell?" Josie mutters under her breath once she's in the dorm room and sees the door close.

"We have a problem." Hope states as she turns the lights on, allowing Josie to see her.

"What kind of a problem?" Josie wonders curiously.

"Lizzie came up to me while we were shopping, she asked if I bumped into MG causing his bag to fall off his shoulder, nearly killing her as a result." Hope reveals that Lizzie basically accused Hope of being responsible, which shocks Josie.

"What did you say?" Josie interrogates, seeming worried.

"I said that I had nothing to do it because I might as well have been in Penelope's dorm the entire day except when I left and when I got there, but I don't need the stairs to get from one dorm to another." Hope explains, this calming Josie.

"Also, what is going on between you and Penelope?" Hope adds which makes Josie slightly nervous.

"I don't know what you mean." Josie lies and Hope can tell.

"Yeah you do. Lizzie came up and informed me of the you and your ex being 'like ridiculously close' in the girl's bathroom at the store before lunch. So, what's going on?" Hope quotes Lizzie by putting what she said in air quotes before she demands an answer, so Josie sighs in defeat.

"I kissed Penelope, but it wasn't like that. I didn't want anyone to eavesdrop so I passed the information to her by getting in her mind." Josie admits, shocking Hope.

"What kind of information did you pass?" Hope still looks shocked yet also curious.

"How I got MG and Lizzie talking as well as the fact that MG was there, since he wasn't supposed to be." Josie reveals in a tone of defeat.

"Well damn it. Lizzie trusts me to tell her whatever I found out about what happened in the bathroom and I can't tell her that." Hope seems pissed at herself for agreeing to tell Lizzie especially since it could ruin the game.

"Anything else you care to share?" Josie presses on Hope, who immediately gets nervous.

"No." Hope says plainly but Josie can tell she's lying.

"Really? So, you have nothing else to share, like an intense, unhappy looking conversation?" Josie reveals to Hope that she was a witness to the conversation that she had with Lizzie.

"It doesn't matter what we talked about. I promised her that I wouldn't tell you and she trusts me." Hope admits, shocking and hurting Josie, who frowns in confusion.

"She told you something that she didn't tell me and you promised not to share it." Josie sounds betrayed by this turn of event and Hope backtracks.

"She didn't want me to tell you, she didn't even want to say it aloud, so she made me promise not to." Hope tries to reassure Josie only to realize that she might have said too much.

"Well, we have a meeting to attend to in Penelope's dorm room." Josie remembers that she told Penelope this and Hope nods then they walk out, heading to Penelope's dorm.

**A/N: It appears that Josie helped fix the mess between MG and Lizzie. Also, what did MG buy? This is part one of a two part thing.**


	9. Correction: People Have Too Many Secrets

Hope and Josie enter Penelope's dorm to find the rest of them already there with Rafael lounging on Penelope's bed, Penelope just leaning against the wall and Kaleb eating his leftover food from earlier when they went to the grill.

Hope just takes her seat next to him and he hands her her own leftover box, which she takes happily, leaving Josie standing across from Penelope.

"So, today was actually really fun. Even if we went shopping." Rafael breaks the silence as he sits up on Penelope's bed.

"Okay, I know I promised no complaints, but is there something wrong with the rest of my dorm room? Every meeting we have, you're on my bed." Penelope complains to Rafael about his usual spot.

"No, there's just not a lot of places to sit. Also, I'm jealous, my bed isn't half this comfortable." Rafael explains his seating choice causing Penelope to roll her eyes and get to the point.

"So, we have Josie to thank for today as she got Lizzie and MG talking as well as gave us a small break from school." Penelope gives Josie credit which Kaleb and Rafael seem grateful for.

"Okay, the small break from the school was actually Lizzie's idea. She wanted a girl's day out, so I just convinced her to make it more of a school thing." Josie gives Lizzie credit for the day away from the school but gives herself credit for involving the guys.

"Either way, job well done for getting Lizzie and MG to talk to each other." Rafael congratulates Josie for her effort which causes her to blush slightly.

"That's exactly what I was saying." Penelope claims as she gives Josie a significant look that Josie returns.

"So, now what?" Kaleb wonders curiously as he looks around the room, not realizing how uncomfortable Hope looks yet Rafael does.

"Hope, are you okay? You look nauseous." Rafael points out, looking concerned for her causing all of them to look at her.

"I'm… No, I'm not. I promised Lizzie that I wouldn't say anything about what she told me when we were shopping but now I just can't keep it a secret anymore. I need to say something but if Lizzie finds out, I'm dead." Hope reveals after she hesitates from probably saying that she was fine causing them to look curiously at her.

"Well, I promise I won't say anything. I spend most days trying to avoid her anyway." Rafael admits, emphasising 'I' to prove that he won't saying anything.

"I promise I won't say anything." Penelope promises and Kaleb nods in agreement.

"I promise too." Kaleb joins in on keeping the promise then they all look at Josie, who seems anxious to agree.

"Well, she kept it from me first, so. I promise that I won't say anything." Josie assures Hope after realizing it's only fair and Hope nods then sighs.

"It's about the paintball incident from weeks ago, there was something that she never told you about. Something else happened." Hope starts causing them to share looks and look confused.

"What happened?" Rafael looks the most curious outside of Josie.

"Well, she lied when the incident happened as she had already walked from MG when she was hit with the paintball gun. But that wasn't the worst part, the person who did it aggressively kissed her, leaving her mouth with light bruises." Hope confesses what happened leaving all of them shocked yet Josie horrified.

"Did she see who did it?" Kaleb asks but Hope shakes her head.

"No, according to her the person kept their head down, and their hood up." Hope admits causing more of a horrified expression to appear on Josie's face.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Penelope states, turning her attention to Josie.

"That's exactly what MG said in the gym earlier. The person who bumped into him, that knocked his backpack off his shoulder had a grey hoodie where he kept the hood up but his head down." Josie reveals, under the impression that they might be the same person.

"Is it possible that they're the same person?" Rafael wonders curiously, thinking about it.

"It's possible. We shouldn't take any chances by ruling anything out." Penelope claims causing them all to nod in agreement then Josie's phone beeps so she looks at it.

It's a text from Lizzie that reads;

'_Great news sis. My cast is getting removed today, my forearm/wrist are no longer broken, thanks to Emma. I'll see you at our dorm when the cast is removed.'_

Josie smiles at the text for a moment before frowning in realization.

"Shit. Lizzie thinks I'm at our dorm room, this meeting is going to have to be cut short." Josie exclaims then leaves the dorm room, not realizing that a person in a grey hoodie is watching her leave.

"I should probably go to. I promised Landon that we'd talk." Hope claims then walks out of the dorm as well, heading in a different direction.

Meanwhile, Josie walks into her and Lizzie's dorm room, only to see that Lizzie is already there with no Emma and her cast still on.

"Lizzie, I got your text. I thought you were getting your cast removed today." Josie reveals as she holds up her phone.

"Ughh, damn it. I meant, tomorrow. I remove this stupid cast tomorrow. Where were you?" Lizzie questions, looking at her twin curiously.

"Uh, just talking with Hope and helping her put all her new clothes away." Josie lies but then thinks she probably should have as Hope's dorm was a mess filled with all those shopping bags, and Lizzie just smiles at her.

"My sister, the selfless helper." Lizzie says this after she stands up and hugs her which surprises Josie, who just smiles and goes with the hug.

"Well, now that you're here. I'd like you to help me pick out an outfit to wear." Lizzie states after the hug breaks and Josie looks at her sister, confused.

"What's the occasion?" Josie wonders, still confused.

"For Christmas, of course. Who cares if I still have a month until it's actually here, I need the perfect outfit for the party we're going to throw." Lizzie exclaims happily, which confuses Josie more.

"We're?" Josie sounds as confused as she looks which causes Lizzie to scoff at her ignorance.

"Duh, we're a team. And as fun as Thanksgiving was, I think Christmas would be even better if we put our wonder-twin powers together to create the perfect day." Lizzie sounds very happy about working with Josie in order to throw the 'perfect' Christmas party and Josie smiles happily at Lizzie's enthusiasticness for the planning.

"Okay. You want to wear something you just bought?" Josie suggests causing Lizzie to smile and nod in agreement at the suggestion.

"Of course. Then I'll help you pick an outfit for the event as well." Lizzie agrees and Josie nods at her.

Walking down a hallway, Hope finally reaches Landon's dorm room, which is open a crack.

She approaches the room slowly and pushes the door open causing it creak making Hope mildly worried.

"Landon?" Hope cautiously enters the dorm room where she immediately hears the shower running which causes her to sigh in relief.

Hope then notices that his closet is open and some clothes are on the floor, so looking back at the bathroom door still hearing the shower running, she walks over to the closet, opens the door fully and starts hanging up some of his clothes.

Hope continues to do this, as the shower still runs, when she comes across a grey hoodie which she looks at suspiciously then starts checking it only to reveal a there's a hole in it.

Hope gapes at this discovery as she is transported to a memory from earlier.

**(Flashback)**

Lizzie and Hope are by a rack in the store talking.

"I never saw the person's face, Hope. But I can tell you that his hoodie had a hole in it." Lizzie admits, shocking Hope.

"Was it a noticeable hole?" Hope asks and Lizzie shakes her head.

"No, because something fell out of it when he ran off. It looked like a key to something, or somewhere. I took it and I keep it in my nightstand." Lizzie explains causing Hope to nod.

"Can you just keep a lookout for a hoodie like that? It's a possibility the person who assaulted me by paint gun could be responsible for nearly killing me on the staircase." Lizzie reveals and Hope nods again.

"Yeah, sure. I'll keep my out for it." Hope assures Lizzie then places her hand on Lizzie's upper arm then walks away to continue shopping.

**(End of flashback)**

Hope still crouches near the closet, gaping at the hoodie she continues to hold, and the fact that she found in her boyfriend's closet.

She snaps back to reality, however, when she hears the shower turn off and continues to hang up his clothes that fell, all except the grey hoodie.

Landon walks out of the bathroom to see Hope staring at his closet.

"Hey, Hope." Landon greets her as he approaches her in a towel once she looks at him.

"You look mortified." Landon points out and Hope wastes no time in showing him his hoodie.

"You own this." Hope holds it up for him to see and Landon looks confused.

"Yeah, it has a hole in it that I've been meaning to fix." Landon agrees that the hoodie belongs to him.

"Did you lend it to anybody?" Hope interrogates and Landon shakes his head.

"No, well I lent it to Rafael once but I usually just wear it." Landon replies, this answer not satisfying Hope.

"Did you assault Lizzie with paint gun?" Hope gets straight to the point and Landon looks at her, completely shocked that she'd accuse him of that.

"No. Hope, I swear that I didn't. Do you know how many people on campus have grey hoodies?" Landon defends himself and Hope nods then holds the hoodie up again.

"I do. Yet yours is the only one with a hole in the pocket." Hope points out, showing him the hole.

"How is that relevant?" Landon is not liking where this argument is going.

"Because Lizzie saw something fall out of it when the assailant ran away. Did you bump into MG a couple days ago?" Hope gives him a reason as to why the hole is relevant before continuing to question him and he looks away evasively, seemingly ashamed of something.

"It was an accident, bumping into MG. I was in a hurry and he looked like he was in a hurry too, so I just bumped into him then kept walking." Landon explains causing Hope to nod in understanding.

"You know, your act of bumping into MG caused his bag to fall off his shoulder. And because of that, when Lizzie was walking to talk to her father, she tripped over it, falling down two flights of stairs." Hope informs Landon of his action critically injuring Lizzie.

"I had no idea." Landon sounds genuine about this and Hope stops questioning him on the matter, even though she feels that something's off.

Landon and Hope reconcile from the fight of accusations by hugging then sharing a small kiss before Hope leaves so Landon can get dressed.

With this new information, Hope texts Josie and the rest of the Mizzie Shipper's Quest participants for another meeting.

Once they're all back in Penelope's dorm room, Hope is the last to enter, seeing them all look at her curiously by the meeting.

"You look sad." Josie claims, pointing out Hope's mood and she nods in agreement.

"That's because I just found out some interesting news that I need to share with all of you." Hope admits, keeping their attention as the look at her expectantly to continue.

"I talked to Landon earlier but before I did, I was organizing his closet as some clothes were on the floor and I found something. A dark grey hoodie." The room looks shocked by this revelation as Hope continues.

"When we were shopping and Lizzie came up to talk to me, she said that the person who had the hoodie ran off and dropped something, as the hoodie had a hole in it. Regardless of how many people at this school owns a dark grey hoodie, Landon's is the only one that has a hole in it and he also admitted to being the person who bumped into MG." Hope reveals causing Rafael to start shaking his head.

"Okay, I get him bumping into MG, but Landon wouldn't assault anyone with a paint gun, or with anything in that matter." Rafael defends Landon but Hope rolls her eyes.

"Does your brother have a key that leads to anywhere in particular?" Hope interrogates Rafael, who looks at her in shock before responding.

"Yeah, he has a key. He never told me where it led though. But I can tell you it looks like a key to a storage unit, or at least somewhere along those lines. Why?" Rafael wonders after telling Hope that he does have a key.

"Because a key is what dropped out of the pocket from the hoodie Lizzie's assailant was wearing and it might have been Landon's key." Hope continues to reveal shocking information about Landon that Rafael can't defend.

"Also, I told him about Lizzie being critically injured from him bumping into MG and he said that he had no idea." Hope claims but this confuses Josie.

"What's so bad about that?" Josie questions, voicing her confusion.

"Because he lied to my face. And I'm pretty that he was lying to me when he said that he wasn't responsible for assaulting Lizzie with a paint gun." Hope isn't lying about this, they can tell, it's something she inherited from her father, she hardly gets played for a fool and is always able to tell when someone is either lying or acting, which is one of the many things she's grateful for in receiving something else from him outside of his eyes.

**A/N: This is part two. Uh oh, is Landon actually responsible for tampering with the game? If he is, what does that mean for Hope and Landon? Also, are Penelope and Josie getting together? So many questions I don't have answers to.**


	10. I Think Our Team Needs a New Recruit

"Are you absolutely sure that he lied?" Rafael wonders, wanting to be sure of Hope's assumptions before he most likely talks to Landon, and Hope gives him a significant look.

"I know he lied about not knowing Lizzie was critically injured. It's the assault by paint gun I'm unsure about but all evidence points to him." Hope is still in disbelief that her boyfriend is responsible for harming Lizzie and Rafael is in disbelief too.

"He wouldn't. You mean way too much to him and he knows he'll lose you if he hurts you in anyway. Including hurting the ones that you care about." Rafael points out to Hope, who smiles shyly at this compliment yet still seems upset by her discovery.

"Well, there's only one way to find out if he was lying. Tie him to a truth orb." Josie claims with a nod causing the rest of them to nod at this in agreement.

"I'll do it. I promise I'll tell you what he says." Rafael assures Hope, who nods at him, implying that she trusts him to tell her what Landon says.

So, Josie hands Rafael a truth orb which he takes uneasily, puts it in his pocket, then walks out to confront Landon about hurting Lizzie.

"Okay, while Rafael interrogates his brother, what should we do to get MG and Lizzie together?" Penelope asks, looking around the room as they all think.

"Well, they're talking again so it should make our attempts a little easier." Kaleb reassures the group then Josie decides to speak up.

"Lizzie and I are planning Christmas." Josie blurts randomly causing them to look at her confused.

"What? Christmas isn't for a month." Hope points out confused and Josie nods.

"I know. Lizzie said that although she really enjoyed Thanksgiving, she wanted me and her to plan a Christmas party. Also, she asked where I was when I went to see her, and I lied, saying that I helped you put your recently bought clothes away." Josie admits all of this in one breath, the last statement she looked at Hope when she said it.

"So, this is getting Lizzie suspicious and it most likely won't take long before MG gets suspicious as well. We plan, we scheme, we get as many attempts as we can in before Christmas, and we keep the meetings to a minimum." Penelope advises and they all nod before they all leave Penelope's dorm room.

Two weeks later, Rafael has been avoiding Hope, who's noticed yet at the same time doesn't entirely care.

Lizzie's very anxious that someone is trying to kill her, despite Josie's claims to the opposite, mainly because the person who assaulted her with a paint gun, and nearly killed her on the staircase has upped their game, no longer using MG as a step-stool as they called, threatening her, claiming that her dorm room isn't safe, implying that they know where she is and where her dorm room is, which makes her even more nervous, which she has the right to be.

Lizzie is standing in front of the bathroom mirror, admiring one of the new shirts that she bought two weeks ago, smiling at it when she hears her dorm room door opens.

"Josie? You back?" Lizzie removes the shirt in order to put on a more comfortable lounging sweater on then puts on pants.

"Josie? You know how much I hate surprises." Lizzie points out as she walks out of the bathroom only to be horrified when she sees the door to her dorm room open.

Lizzie shrugs it off as she walks to the door in order to close it, however, after she closes the door, somebody in a grey hoodie with their head down comes from behind and starts strangling her with something she can't make out.

The person continues to strangle her as she tries to get out of the grasp, flailing around and thrashing but to no avail.

She starts to lose air as she gasps for it, but she's near unconsciousness yet luckily before she could lose her last breath, the person throws her on the ground and searches the room viciously, clearly looking for something.

The person stops, unable to find it, as well as hearing footsteps, and leaves the dorm room undetected while also leaving Lizzie barely conscious along with barely breathing.

Hope, who wanted to see Josie, just walks into the dorm room, completely appalled by the sight of it, then looks around to see Lizzie on the floor.

"Oh my god, Lizzie." Hope runs to her aid to remove the weapon the hooded person had used from around her neck, which causes her to sit up immediately along with allowing her to breathe more properly as she coughs and gasps for air.

Hope just embraces her in a hug, as she whimpers, still gasping for breath while tears stream down her face.

"What happened, what happened?" Hope wonders as she continues to embrace Lizzie, who continues to whimper and silently cry.

"Someone tried to kill me." Lizzie claims as she massages her neck while letting Hope continue to hold her and she still cries.

After a moment, Lizzie's sitting on Josie's bed, watching Hope clean up the things that were broken from her near murder.

"You don't have to clean this up." Lizzie points out causing Hope to nod.

"I know, I want to. Besides, the more I do, the less you have to." Hope reassures Lizzie that she doesn't mind being there or cleaning up the mess which causes Lizzie to smile warmly at her.

"So, the person just came in and attempted to kill you?" Hope questions, obviously confused but Lizzie just nods.

"Pretty much. But at the same time, I don't think they wanted me dead, I think they just wanted me out of the way. I was near my last breath before they just threw me on the ground and tore apart my dorm room. It was like they were looking for something." Lizzie admits causing Hope to stop what she's doing which catches Lizzie's attention.

"Maybe they were. What did this dorm room look like when you came back from falling down the stairs?" Hope interrogates and Lizzie scrunches her face in confusion as she shakes her head, not knowing where Hope's going with this.

"It looked exactly the same. I mean, some things were out of place but all in all, it was the same as it usually looked. Why?" Lizzie looks at Hope confused but Hope looks horrified by whatever revelation she's just discovered.

"They're the same person. The paint gun shooter, the stair bumper, the attempted murderer, they're the same person. They have to be. I mean, the paint gun shooter attacks you, dropping something, then you fall down the stairs, when you come back, some things were out of place, and now nearly killing you to look through your dorm. They were looking for the key." Hope reveals, probably not sure if she's paranoid or enthusiastic since she's out of breath, as she looks at Lizzie, who stares back at her in horror.

"Where's that key, Lizzie?" Hope asks, looking at her desperately as Lizzie thinks.

"I can't remember. My brain's still a little foggy and light-headed from getting strangled to near death." Lizzie makes a sassy remark while sounding frantic as she paces around while running her hands through her hair.

"Okay, you told me two weeks ago that you kept it in your nightstand drawer. Was that the first place they looked?" Hope wonders as she looks around and Lizzie just shakes her head in disagreement.

"No, they trashed my closet first then started rummaging through Josie's nightstand after looking in the bathroom." Lizzie admits causing Hope to look through Lizzie's nightstand drawer, much to her non-verbal protests.

"It's not in here. I don't need to know what you took to know what a key looks like. It's not in the drawer." Hope informs Lizzie, who's more frantic than ever, after giving a snarky remark to Lizzie's former facial expression as though she was about to retort to her first statement.

"No, that's not possible." Lizzie runs over and searches the drawer herself, only to be horrified that Hope's right and Hope starts thinking.

"Lizzie." Hope says calmly, her eyes starting to tear up, which catches Lizzie's attention, making her concerned.

"What is it Hope?" Lizzie wonders looking at her curiously and concerned.

"There's something you need to know about the person who bumped into MG on the staircase. I didn't want to tell you because I was still coming to terms with it but if the person who nearly killed you is who I think it is, then I can't keep that from you." Hope confesses as she sits on Lizzie's bed causing Lizzie to join her, looking confused yet also curious.

Hope decides to confess everything from what she discovered two weeks ago, about Landon and how he admitted to bumping into MG along with owning a grey hoodie that has a hole in it.

Lizzie sits there in shock and horror that Landon's trying to kill her as Hope looks upset that her boyfriend could be the culprit of harming Lizzie.

"So, he assaulted me with a paint gun, aggressively kissed me, accidentally dropped his key then nearly kills me twice in order to get his key back?" Lizzie looks to Hope for reassurance from her confession and Hope just nods.

"I believe that's the case, yes." Hope responds with a nod causing Lizzie to look devastated by this revelation.

"You're dating someone who's insane. You know that, right?" Lizzie looks at Hope sympathetically as Hope looks away evasively, believing that she may be right.

"I have to go." Hope stands up and turns to leave but Lizzie stops her by grabbing her hand, an action that shocks Hope.

"Please, don't leave. I don't want to be alone." Lizzie pleads sadly causing Hope to look sympathetically at her.

"I'll be right back. I pro… you have my word." Hope declares after hesitating, knowing that people are capable of breaking promises, then leaves Lizzie, who decides to clean up the non-broken things her near death placed around the room.

Hope bangs on a dorm room door, clearly infuriated and when there's no answer, she goes to do it again before Rafael opens the door.

"Hope, hi." Rafael greets her but it's obvious that she's not in the mood to be nice.

"Where's Landon?" Hope demands, pushing through Rafael to enter the dorm room, which is empty.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him all day." Rafael admits but this doesn't make Hope feel better, actually it infuriates her more.

"Did you ever talk to him while he was tied to the truth orb?" Hope interrogates and Rafael nods in agreement.

"Yeah, I did. When I said I would." Rafael realizes that this answer is just fumed her anger more as she implied that she trusted him to tell her what Landon had told him.

"Well, you didn't come to me about it." Hope points out in anger and Rafael sighs, knowing she's right.

"I know, I was just processing it all. Turns out, Landon did assault Lizzie with a paint gun but he assures me that he didn't aggressively kiss her. The orb glowed blue when he said that he had nothing to do with it. He also admitted that him bumping into MG wasn't an accident, he was praying that one of the Saltzman twins would get injured, in order to give him time to find his key." Rafael informs Hope of the lie detector answers which just barely calms her down.

"Well, did he say he found that key?" Hope still looks infuriated but her infuriation turns to confusion when Rafael nods.

"Yeah, he claimed he knew exactly where it was in the dorm room. He just didn't want to get caught breaking and entering." Hope looks confused, horrified, and angry by this confession which doesn't go unnoticed by Rafael.

"There are two people. Someone aggressively kissed Lizzie, if it wasn't Landon then who the hell was it?" Hope seems angry by the fact that there are two culprits yet also seems relieved that Landon wasn't responsible for today or kissing Lizzie.

"There's something else on your mind. Care to share it?" Rafael suggests after pointing out Hope is thinking of something else.

"Someone nearly killed Lizzie, today in her dorm room. I thought it was Landon after he failed to find his key the first time but now I'm not sure." Hope confesses sounding like she's out of breath, to Rafael, who looks horrified by this.

"Why would someone nearly kill Lizzie?" Rafael looks horrified, confused, and slightly angry by this.

"They were looking for that key Rafael. So, tell me, did Landon ever tell you where he got that key?" Hope demands that Rafael tell her.

"No, he didn't have to. I was there when he got it. It was a gift from one of the foster families that we shared. However, it's possible that the one who gave it to him stole it, or the person who was looking for it today just desperately wants to know where it leads." Rafael gives Hope two suggestions and Hope's anger is clearly fading as it looks like she wants to cry from being as overwhelmed as she is.

"I have to get back to Lizzie." Hope claims in a soft tone then leaves, having Rafael look glad that she's no longer fueled with a bunch of anger.

Hope walks back into Lizzie and Josie's dorm room just as Lizzie walks out of the bathroom.

"I was wrong. The person who nearly killed you today wasn't Landon, it was someone else, just like the aggressive kisser." Hope looks exhausted from everything today and Lizzie looks at her, shocked.

"How do you know that?" Lizzie wonders, still looking at Hope in shock.

"I talked to Rafael. I asked him to get answers from Landon two weeks ago and he just told me what he found out. Landon has his key back, he found it after you fell down those two flights of stairs. Someone else is looking for that key, and from what they did today, I don't think they're keen on asking nicely." Hope reveals to a still shocked Lizzie, who sits on her bed and pats the mattress as an invitation.

"You know, you can stay over, if you want." Lizzie invites her and Hope just nods, silently agreeing to stay.

Lizzie lays back on her bed then turns, having her back face Hope, and slightly shifts before going to sleep.

Hope pulls a blanket over her, tucking her in, then lounges next to her watching her sleep to ensure that no one tries to kill her again.

However, her 'guarding Lizzie' task doesn't last the entire night as she eventually falls asleep next to her but this doesn't last long either as she is woken up from the arrival of Josie.

"Hope?" Josie whispers, looking confused by the sight of Hope in her dorm and sharing a bed with Lizzie but Hope just smiles at her warmly.

"Hey. So, uh, we need to talk." Hope just states after greeting her, which clearly worries Josie, and Hope can tell.

Hope gets off the bed gently, careful not to wake Lizzie, then walks out to the hallway, still able to keep an eye on Lizzie, who continues to peacefully sleep.

Hope informs Josie as to why she's there along with the events that happened and the information she learned that day, all of it mainly horrifying Josie but she is glad that Hope stayed with her.

"I just realized something. Landon is a victim just like Lizzie so long as he has that key." Josie deduces, still whispering even though they're outside the dorm, and Hope nods at her.

"Right. But, what exactly are we going to do?" Hope wonders curiously, also whispering as she looks back in the dorm to see a still sleeping Lizzie.

"Well, now that I'm thinking about it, none of us have been attacked, which means we might be a safe zone, something this person can't touch. Something about a team might make this person uncomfortable which means we have an advantage." Josie speaking her thoughts, not actually intending for Hope to be listening.

"So, if that's the case, then we do one of two things; we tell Landon to ditch the key in a river far from the school and have our assailant fish it out, or we can recruit him for our Mizzie Shipper's Quest." Josie suggests then she smiles deviously at Hope, who finds herself returning the smile.

**A/N: It appears that although Landon is responsible for the paint gun and staircase incidents, he is not responsible for kissing Lizzie. Poor Lizzie, she just nearly got killed in her own dorm room. It also appears that Hope and Lizzie have a budding friendship going on. What will this mean since Kaleb pointed out that Lizzie doesn't talk to Hope? Who is this second grey-hooded figure? Is Landon actually a victim? And what the hell is so damn special about that key? More answers just might be revealed in the next chapter, or not. Who knows?**


	11. A Merry Little- Wait, Where's Hope?

Three days later, Josie and Hope call a meeting, where they all meet up in Penelope's dorm, as usual.

"What happened to keeping the meetings to a minimum?" Kaleb wonders, looking at Penelope, assuming that she called meeting.

"I didn't call this meeting. I was just told set it up." Penelope defends herself then Josie and Hope walk in the room, both seemingly happy that the other members are there.

"Great, you set up the meeting. Thanks Penelope." Josie thanks her ex for setting up the meeting but the three of them look confused.

"What's with the impromptu meeting?" Penelope asks, clearly confused.

"Something happened three days ago and it was to the point where we came to a conclusion. So, we need your opinion on it." Hope explains which clearly catches their attention.

Hope explains everything that happened three days ago, with Rafael agreeing about what she says afterwards, leaving Penelope looking horrified along with Kaleb.

"Someone nearly killed Lizzie three days ago?" Kaleb looks beyond shocked as he tries to process the information.

"Yeah, and I basically told her that she was just being over-dramatic when she made the assumption." Josie admits regretfully with a sad frown.

"Also, we came to the conclusion that Landon is a victim because he has that key. So, we thought that we can have him join our group." Hope adds, getting back to the topic and Kaleb looks shocked by Hope's behavior.

"Is this something any of you are cool with?" Josie wonders and Rafael is the first to agree, as predicted, but Kaleb and Penelope look uneasy as they look at each other.

"Well, the more members, the more chances there are of getting MG and Lizzie together." Kaleb claims, agreeing to letting Landon become a member and reminding Penelope that they could use more players in order to help with the game.

"Okay, Landon can join in on the game." Penelope agrees to Landon joining in causing Hope and Josie to exchange looks.

"Great." Josie seems grateful that they all agreed and Hope awkwardly clears her throat.

"You can, uh, come in now." Hope speaks loudly as though she's addressing someone who isn't in the room, and she was since Landon enters not long after she spoke.

"I see, so you weren't actually waiting for any of us to agree." Penelope deduces causing Hope to tuck her hair behind her ear and look away evasively from her.

"So, Landon already knows the rules and he agrees with the adjustments that we made." Hope informs them and Landon nods in agreement with Hope's words.

"Also, this game sounds pretty fun." Landon speaks up after a moment of awkward silence and snapping Penelope out of glaring at Hope, who looks at her feet, which she uses to aimlessly kick at the floor.

"Well, since you know the rules and the adjustments, that must mean Hope informed you that this is my game, which means that I'm in charge." Penelope emphasizes 'my' and 'I'm' as she makes her point which Landon nods in agreement with, meaning that he understands she's in charge.

Then Josie's phone rings, causing Penelope to shoot her a death glare which has Josie feel small and reluctantly pull her phone out, only to reveal that Lizzie is calling her so she answers it despite Penelope's glare.

"Hey Lizzie." Josie says, only to be shocked by her twin's tone of voice.

"What? No, that sounds like a really good idea. Uh, yeah. I can be there soon. See ya." Josie ends the call and smiles broadly which assures the rest of the group that nothing bad happened this time.

"What was that all about?" Rafael steals the question everyone else clearly wanted to ask.

"Lizzie is revoking our duo plans for Christmas and she wants all of us to help set up for it, MG included. She says that she's going to be asking him personally to help out." Josie clues the group in as to why the phone call was positive for once and they all seem happy by it.

"That's great news." Penelope proclaims, sounding happy as the rest of the group nods in agreement.

Several weeks later, it's the week before Christmas and Josie walks into her dorm room, exhausted, when a beyond cheerful Lizzie greets her in a bear hug.

"Hi!" Lizzie screeches as she twirls them around while hugging.

"You're in a very cheerful mood." Josie points out after the hug breaks and Lizzie just stares at her with a broad smile.

"Of course I am. Today is the day we start setting up the school for Christmas." Lizzie reminds Josie in an excitable tone which doesn't take long to turn into a frown once she notices Josie's facial expression.

"You look utterly exhausted." Lizzie's enthusiasticness has died down and she looks at her twin with concern.

"Yeah, I couldn't get to sleep. I was tossing and turning all night." Josie admits as she stretches and yawns.

"Where were you earlier?" Lizzie questions as Josie just crawls on her bed.

"I was helping Hope with something. Look, I'm gonna take just a little nap and then I'll help with setting up, okay?" Josie assures Lizzie that she will help out once she takes a nap after telling her where she was earlier.

"Okay." Lizzie agrees with her twin in taking a nap as Josie just falls asleep, completely exhausted from whatever she helped Hope with.

A few hours later, Josie wakes up from her nap, feeling much less exhausted than she was earlier, only to see that Lizzie is not there.

Josie looks around the room and gets off the bed just when Lizzie walks in with a covered tray.

"Hey, you're awake." Lizzie realizes as she smiles at her twin, who smiles back at her.

"Yep. What's that?" Josie looks at the covered tray curiously.

"Breakfast, for you. I didn't know when you'd wake up but I thought you'd be hungry when you did." Lizzie admits after she removes the lid on the tray causing Josie to smile gratefully at her.

"Thanks, Lizzie." Josie thanks Lizzie for the breakfast then eats it.

"So, are we going to set up for Christmas?" Josie wonders, looking at Lizzie expectantly after she finishes eating and Lizzie smiles happily at it so the two of them leave.

In the main hall, Penelope, Kaleb, Hope, Landon, Rafael, and MG are the only ones there, much to Lizzie's disappointment as she frowns with such emotion.

"Where is everyone?" Lizzie looks around the room sadly then Dorian and Emma walk in.

"Wow, you have no idea how long it takes to get here when you… completely lose track of time." Dorian hesitates before speaking again once he realizes that minors are in the room.

"Well, Mr. Williams and Emma are here now." Josie motions to their presence but Lizzie still frowns sadly at the fact that not a lot of people are there.

"This is supposed to be an entire school thing. This isn't the entire school." Lizzie reminds Josie before her tone turns bitter as she walks down the steps and over to a box a Christmas.

"Emma, where's our dad?" Josie asks as she looks around the room, confused.

"His prodigal daughter is here, which means that he doesn't need to be. Obviously." Lizzie makes a snarky response, motioning to Hope when she does then rolls her eyes at their father's absence.

Hope rolls her eyes at Lizzie's words then walks over to a different box and starts looking through it.

"Actually, he went to go get a Christmas tree." Emma informs them as to why Alaric is truly absent but this makes Hope annoyed as she rolls her eyes yet she doesn't say anything.

"What's the excuse for the rest of the student body?" Lizzie looks back at Emma as she asks this in a bitter and sarcastic tone but Emma just shrugs since she doesn't know.

"How hard is it to leave bed and help set up for Christmas? I mean, Hope freakin' Mikaelson actually left her dorm for this and she doesn't just hate about every student at this school, but she also hates holidays." Lizzie points out causing Hope to chuckle to herself at this, knowing that Lizzie's right.

"She's got a point." Hope agrees with Lizzie, who shutters, which the rest of them notice except Hope.

"Never agree with me again, it makes me uncomfortable." Lizzie confesses making Hope roll her eyes.

"Maybe they just don't know what time this is supposed to take place?" Josie suggests which gets them all thinking.

"You might be right. I'll find the rest of them and inform them that they're supposed to be here." Dorian claims then leaves the main hall to do the task he gave himself.

"You know what we need?" Lizzie questions, looking around the room with a smirk.

"Yes, something between us." Hope exclaims with a smile even when everyone looks at her.

"Like a wall." Hope adds, still smiling causing Landon to chuckle at this while Lizzie rolls her eyes at it.

"No, Christmas montage music. Let's get in the spirit." Lizzie looks cheerful again causing Penelope and Hope to roll their eyes before they look at each other.

"You're right. Let's deck the halls and fa-la-la." Penelope's tone is very sarcastic as she rolls her eyes once more at Lizzie's cheerfulness causing both Hope and Josie to chuckle along with the rest of the room.

"Exactly." Lizzie's reply is equally sarcastic with a matching smile as she responds to Penelope's sarcasm then walks away to get her iPod.

She comes back with it plugged into a speaker and places it in a corner so it isn't in anyone's way.

"Okay. MG bring that box over here, will you? You're going to help me decorate this side of the school." Lizzie motions to the box she was looking through then plays her iPod which ironically starts playing 'Deck the Halls'.

The members of the Mizzie Shipper's Quest all cast each other significant looks before each of them go to different boxes and take decorations out of them.

After two hours, the room has filled up with the rest of the students when Alaric finally returns, covered in snow and with a fake tree in a box.

"It is storming with snow out there." Alaric informs them and Hope gets a very happy look on her face.

"I've never seen snow before." Hope admits then opens the curtains before she happily, and carelessly, opens one of the windows in the main hall just to stick her head out of it.

Hope sticks her tongue out in order to get snow on it then shakes her head, realizing it was a bad idea.

"Can you close the window? It's freezing in here now." Penelope wraps her arms around herself as she shivers but Hope looks too happy at the sight of snow as she smiles and giggles at it, placing her hand out in order to get snow on her hand.

"She looks so happy. Let's not ruin it." Landon advises as he watches her amused that she's enjoying the snow.

"Fine." Penelope relents, seemingly amused that Hope's happy with the snow as well.

So, everyone else gets back to setting up for Christmas, leaving Hope to continue to giggle at the snow happily.

Keeping the window open is actually a good thing since everyone's walking around and getting overheated so the fresh breeze helps when they take a break.

"Um, where's Hope?" MG asks, looking in the direction of window during a break and realizing that Hope is no longer there.

"She was there like, five minutes ago, which is when I last looked." Lizzie claims, looking confused on how Hope disappeared in a short amount of time, causing Landon, Penelope, and Josie to run over to the window then look out, only to see her making a snow angel.

"What are you doing outside?" Landon wonders, confused causing Hope to stand up and look at them, her face close to all of theirs after she laughs at the question.

"I fell out of the window. Why don't you three come outside, the snow is fun." Hope exclaims enthusiastically causing Josie, Landon, and Penelope look at each other uneasily.

When they turn to face Hope, she blows snow in their faces then giggles when they make similar facial expressions.

"Oh, it is so on." Penelope claims then leaps out the window to join Hope in the snow, looking competitive.

Josie and Landon look at each other before jumping out the window to join as well.

"Looks like four of them are having fun in the snow. Did you want to join them? You look like you want to." MG points out Lizzie's emotions causing her to nod, put a scarf on then hold her hand out to MG.

"Yep, let's go, snow fight. I'm gonna demolish you." Lizzie claims cockily but MG scoffs.

"Yeah right." MG rolls his eyes, refusing to believe Lizzie's words as they leave through the window.

So, Kaleb and Rafael decide to go join in on the snow party as Emma, Dorian, and Alaric follow suit.

"Are the doors broken?" A student wonders curiously as they all left through the open window.

"Possibly." Pedro agrees with a shrug then leaves through the window in order to join in on the fun.

So, the rest of the students all just shrug at each other and leave to enjoy the snow and have fun.

Everyone is either building forts, making snow angels, or having mini snowball fights, while Hope just happily dances in the snow, giggling and smiling at the sight of it.

Since it never snowed in New Orleans and she always went home for the holidays, she never got to see it, which is why she is very happy with the snow today.

Lizzie and MG are having a snow castle building contest, glaring at each other, as neither of them want to lose.

"Snow castle building?" Josie murmurs to Penelope, who just gives her a significant look and a matching smirk.

"Yep, they're clearly trying to figure out which one of them is going to be replacing Elsa." Penelope concludes, making a Frozen reference causing Josie to giggle which causes Penelope to smile genuinely at her ex.

"Well, I think it might be Hope. The cold doesn't seem to bother her in anyway." Josie looks at Hope, who's twirling in the snow barefoot with her school skirt and shirt but no blazer or sweater.

Penelope and Josie look at Hope in an admiring way until snow hits both of them, so they turn to see Rafael looking at them with a shrug as though to say 'you shouldn't have been standing there'.

They look at each other deviously then bend down to make snowballs which they throw at him.

Rafael retaliates by throwing two snowballs at them each which has them running after him.

Unfortunately, running after him caused him to trip and fall, landing on Lizzie's snow castle, which she was very close to finishing.

"Rafael!" Lizzie shouts at him in annoyance and he looks at her apologetically.

"Sorry, Lizzie. It was their fault, they pushed me." Rafael rats out Penelope and Josie, who glare at him in return.

"I was so close to winning this snow castle building contest." Lizzie admits grumpily as she pouts about losing.

Rafael just keeps looking at her apologetically then leaves to retaliate against Josie and Penelope.

MG, not entirely interested in continuing the snow castle building, just knocks down his own snow castle which Lizzie notices and smiles warmly at his act, a smile he returns.

After a moment, Lizzie throws a snowball at him then giggles at his reaction before he throws one at her.

"Hey, not fair!" Lizzie shouts, believing MG was playing dirty but MG just smirks.

"Nothing's fair in love and war, Lizzie." MG reminds her, so she throws another snowball at him, which he dodges, and it wounds up hitting Hope, who stops spinning to frown in confusion.

Then she picks up some snow, forms it into a snowball, and throws it, hitting Penelope in the back of her head.

"Hey. Go back to dancing, snow princess." Penelope demands, knowing that Hope threw it, but Hope ignores Penelope as she throws another at her, which she dodges, so it hits Josie instead.

"She shoots, she scores." Hope does a happy dance as says this in a sing-song voice when she's hit with another snowball, this one coming from Landon.

"Oh no, you didn't." Hope glares at Landon as she speaks with a threatening tone then throws a snowball back at him, which he catches then throws back at her yet she ducks out of the way and it winds up hitting Alaric.

Landon looks in horror at the fact he just hit the headmaster with a snowball when Lizzie speaks up.

"Snowball fight!" Lizzie shouts this announcement and it doesn't take long before everyone starts throwing snowballs at each other.

All of the students, the teachers, and the headmaster are completely covered from head-to-toe in snow when they all re-enter the school, most of them shivering.

"Alright, let's get cleaned up, warmed up, and back to setting up." Alaric declares and they all part ways, each of them leaving snow behind with each step.

It doesn't take long for the group to realize that Hope is still outside as she is not in the main hall but they can see her still twirling and dancing in the snow from the window which is now closed, thanks to Emma.

"Eh, she might never see snow again with her ridiculously busy schedule, we can let her have this." Josie declares after revealing her belief causing everyone else to either shrug or nod in agreement and go back to setting up for Christmas with Lizzie's iPod continuing to play Christmas classics.

With all the fun mayhem going on, it wounds up with Lizzie and Josie accidentally treating their father like a Christmas tree as he's covered in garland, Christmas lights, along with a couple non-fragile ornaments and Lizzie adds the finishing touches by placing a star on his head.

"Yay, we finished decorating the Christmas tree." Lizzie declares happily but Josie frowns in confusion as she looks around, only to see the actual tree behind her.

"Lizzie, the tree's right there. Wait, where's our dad?" Josie asks, looking around the room, still confused.

"Uh, he's the Christmas tree." Emma replies, motioning to what they just decorated.

"Oops." Lizzie and Josie say in sync then Josie grabs one of end of the lights while Lizzie grabs one end of the garland and they both pull on it causing Ric to spin out of control.

He eventually falls in Emma and Dorian's arms once he's no longer covered in garland and lights, then he shakes it off after looking around the room dizzily.

"Well, that was fun." Ric claims sarcastically and they all go back to setting up, no one noticing that Hope still isn't back yet.

Sometime later, while they're still setting up, Lizzie and MG got caught under a mistletoe that one of the students put up earlier.

Lizzie, not knowing what to do under a mistletoe, just simply hugs MG then walks away, believing that's what you're supposed to do under one.

Penelope shakes her head disapprovingly as she notices how dopey MG looks, simply because Lizzie hugged him.

"Hey, have you seen Hope?" Josie whispers in Penelope's ear, getting her attention.

"No, I haven't. I'm not seeing her dancing in the snow anymore either." Penelope looks out the window, seeming more concerned than she'd usually be, and this worries Josie more as Hope isn't helping set up, even though she stopped helping out once Ric got back.

Then the two look back, only to see Lizzie and MG decorating the stairs with lights, well Lizzie's focused on the stairs but MG just looks at her with a dopey expression as though she isn't bossing him around.

"Unbelievable. Why are we doing this?" Josie asks, leaning to Penelope's ear again.

"Because, if anything that facial expression needs to go away. Them dating is going to do that." Penelope motions to MG and Lizzie causing Josie to sigh.

"Yeah, I know. I just…" Josie trails off, which catches Penelope's attention.

"Just what?" Penelope presses Josie on what she wants to say causing her to sigh once more.

"I just can't believe that I agreed to help you. I mean, you are literally attempting to set up the most hopeless romance that I've ever encountered. You owe me big time." Josie exclaims after revealing that she might be having second thoughts on getting Lizzie and MG together then walks away to continue decorating and setting up leaving Penelope in shock before she walks in a different direction, neither of them knowing that Alaric had just heard their entire conversation.

**A/N: Uh Oh, don't they know not to talk about viable information in public? Alaric now has knowledge of the game, what's he going to do with it? Also, Hope seeing snow for the first time and everyone joining her in it, I loved writing those moments, they were fun.**


	12. Decorations and Accusations

The decorating is still in full swing when Lizzie realizes what time it is and decides to speak up on it.

"Okay, decorating is officially over for today. This is supposed to last several days, so let's not do it all right now because that will defeat the purpose. We will all be back here tomorrow morning." Lizzie announces cheerfully so everyone stops what they're doing and they all file out of the main hall, which is when Lizzie notices that Hope isn't with the crowd.

"Hey, where's Hope? I haven't seen her since the snowball fight." Lizzie claims to Josie as they leave the main hall then Penelope joins their conversation.

"Maybe she's still outside. Just because she wasn't in view of the window, doesn't mean she was gone." Penelope points out after making a suggestion which causes Lizzie and Josie to look at each other then shrug.

So, the three of them head outside to look for Hope before their minds go to a bad place, like she was kidnapped, or worse.

"Hope!" Josie shouts as the snow continues to fall heavy and she finds herself shivering from it.

"Hope!" Lizzie and Penelope's echoes can be heard to each other along with Josie as they all shiver from the snow and cold wind.

None of them hear giggling or movement of any kind except their own, which worries all of them until they hear a screech from Lizzie.

"Lizzie!" Josie runs to her twin's aid immediately after she heard the noise.

"Hey, are you okay?" Josie asks as she helps Lizzie up from the ground.

"Yeah, I just tripped over something, that's all." Lizzie assures Josie that she's fine when Penelope gets a look of confusion.

"Unless it was your own feet or a miscalculation, you couldn't have possibly tripped over the snow." Penelope deduces, still frowning in confusion.

"Well, the snow is covering a lot things, maybe she just tripped over a rock or something that was hidden underneath it." Josie defends Lizzie in how she could have tripped but Penelope doesn't seem to buy it as she looks closer at the snow.

Penelope starts intensely digging through the snow when she seems to of heard something that the twins didn't.

"What are doing? We should probably get back to the school." Lizzie recommends after wondering what Penelope's doing.

It doesn't take long before Penelope reveals a hand from beneath the snow, which horrifies both Lizzie and Josie, so they start helping Penelope dig through the snow.

Hope starts coughing and shivering once her face in uncovered causing the three of them to help her up.

"Maybe I should just admire snow from a-a distance." Hope manages to say as her teeth chatter and she shivers.

"Yeah, probably for the best." Josie agrees with her words then the three of them help her to her feet and they walk back to the school, their appearances worrying Ric when they walk in.

"What happened?" Alaric wonders, looking concerned.

"We realized that Hope still wasn't back so we went looking for her. It turns out she got buried under the snow." Lizzie explains as all of them shiver from being outside, but none more than Hope, as she was out there the longest.

"Oh, okay. Why don't you four get warmed up?" Alaric recommends and they all nod in agreement with it then they all walk to the common room, since it has a fireplace.

Hope continues to shiver in front of the fireplace, even though she is in warm, comfy clothes and wrapped in a blanket.

Curious of her coldness, Josie takes her temperature despite Hope practically shoving her away, apparently not liking thermometers.

Josie finally puts the thermometer in Hope's mouth, much to her dismay as she pouts and continues to shiver.

Once it beeps, Josie removes it and looks in horror at the body temperature, which she's certain is not a normal temperature for a werewolf.

"Um, that's not good." Josie speaks up on her horror after Penelope and Lizzie look at her curiously.

"What does it say?" Hope wonders as she her shivers start turning to shakes and her lip starts to quiver.

"Your body temperature is forty-five degrees. I need to talk to Emma about this." Josie reveals Hope's temperature then runs out to go get Emma leaving Lizzie and Penelope looking horrified.

Penelope walks over to Hope and places the back of her hand on her forehead, only to back away immediately which catches Hope attention.

"Your body is ice cold. I touched your forehead and it felt like I was putting my hand on ice." Penelope admits, horrifying Hope, who continues to shake and shiver, when Josie runs back in with Emma, who looks worried.

"How long were you out in the snow?" Emma questions as she removes her jacket and places it on the blanket that Hope is already wrapped in.

"I do- I don't know. A couple hours maybe." Hope has started stuttering as result of being trembling cold.

"I'm going to need more blankets." Emma advises the other to get more blankets, which they leave to go do.

"Well, the bad news is that you have monomania, the good news is it's easily treatable." Emma diagnoses her with good news and bad news as the three girls come back with an abundance of blankets.

"Okay, which one of you will make hot chocolate while I make soup?" Emma questions, looking curiously at the three of them and Josie's hand shoots up.

"I'll do it. This can be a reason to improve my hot chocolate making skills." Josie seems enthusiastic in being the one making hot cocoa, so Emma allows her to.

Once Hope is wrapped in the abundance of blankets, has been fed soup, and drank the hot chocolate that Josie made, her complexion becomes less blue, starting to return to normal, much to everyone's relief.

"Okay, now I'm overheated." Hope admits as she wriggles her way out of the layered blankets around her.

Over the next four days, Lizzie has personally requested that MG helps her with the school decorating, much to MG's joy, along with the Mizzie Shipper's Quest.

The morning of the fifth day, Lizzie is getting ready as Josie isn't in the dorm room, much to her confusion.

Lizzie is about to change out of her pajamas in order to put on lounge clothes, but she decides that she's going to take a shower before putting on a new outfit.

When Lizzie is in the shower, the door to the dorm room creaks open, unbeknownst to her, and somebody slowly sneaks in.

The person, who's wearing a dark grey hoodie, immediately heads to Josie's nightstand, starting to root through it.

Once they come up empty, they start rooting through Lizzie's nightstand then sighs in annoyance when it comes up empty as well.

The person ends up completely trashing the dorm room, then flees when they hear the shower turn off.

"Josie?" Lizzie calls out for her twin as she pokes her head from the shower curtain.

She grabs a towel, wraps it around her, then gets out of the shower fully.

"Josie?" Lizzie calls out again as she opens the bathroom door, only to be horrified of the state her dorm room is in after she opens the door completely.

"Oh my god." Lizzie sighs out in shock and horror then runs back into the bathroom to grab her cell phone.

She immediately dials Josie, but her phone goes to voicemail, so she tries Hope, but that has no answer either.

Deeply sighing in realization, she concludes that desperate times call for desperate measures, which has her calling Penelope's phone.

"Hello?" Penelope wonders sleepily, answering the phone after a couple of rings.

"Penelope. How fast can you get to my dorm room? Hope and Josie weren't answering my calls." Lizzie claims after wondering if Penelope can come over and Penelope can hear that Lizzie is worried.

"Uh, fifteen minutes. See you soon." Penelope ends the call after answering Lizzie's question.

Lizzie takes this time to get dressed and once she's done, Penelope just walks up to the doorway, as the door is still open, with Josie and Hope.

"Oh my god. What happened?" Josie asks, walking in the dorm room and looking at all the carnage.

"I don't know, I was just taking a shower when I heard something out here break and when I got out, the place was trashed." Lizzie explains then looks at the three of them, confused.

"I called you immediately the second I saw the room but when you didn't answer, I tried Hope. Only Penelope actually answered the phone, how is that?" Lizzie questions, clearly confused and curious on the situation causing Hope and Josie to exchange looks then check their phones respectively.

"I have no history of you calling me." Josie admits, then shows Lizzie her phone to prove she isn't lying.

"I don't have my phone." Hope realizes before repetitively checking the pockets on her lounge pants and ultimately checking her bra to see if it were there.

"Where the hell is my phone?" Hope practically yells this question as she continues to search herself for her cell.

"Did you drop it somewhere?" Josie wonders curiously and Hope shakes her head.

"No, I didn't drop it somewhere. I keep it on me twenty-four-seven." Hope reveals then gives up on trying to find it, realizing that she doesn't have it.

"Whoever stole my phone will have hell to pay." Hope declares bitterly with a dark expression on her face.

"You guys think you can help clean this up?" Lizzie suggests and the three of them nod.

"Ow! Ah!" Hope screams in pain as she steps somewhere after a few moments which has the other three running to her aid, only for them to see that she's barefoot.

"What happened?" Penelope questions looking concerned.

"I stepped on something painful, that's what." Hope grits through her teeth in annoyance at Penelope's question.

"Why are you barefoot?" Lizzie interrogates but Hope avoids the question, instead she starts doing breathing exercises, believing it will ease the pain.

Josie just carefully lifts up Hope's foot to reveal she stepped on glass and some of it is in her foot.

Lizzie frowns sadly, apparently recognizing what Hope stepped on, and what was the thing she most likely heard break while she was in the shower.

"One would think you'd wear shoes twenty-four-seven." Penelope remarks causing Hope to let out a low growl and glare at her, while her eyes flash yellow, proving that her words shouldn't of been said.

"I'm just saying. No need to get aggressive." Penelope claims as she puts her arms up in a non-threatening manner which seems to calm Hope down as her eyes are no longer yellow.

"Um, is there plastic somewhere. If blood gets on the carpet, I won't know how to clean it up." Josie admits so Penelope leaves and gets something to put Hope's foot on so blood won't stain the carpet.

"Okay. Now what?" Josie looks between the three of them expectantly.

"Just put duct tape on her foot then yank it off. The pain will be over in seconds and we won't have a mess of more glass everywhere." Lizzie recommends, knowing that Hope would rather have a painless glass removal than having each piece slowly removed.

"Okay." Josie sighs, unsure but Hope hasn't objected to it, so she gets up, heads to the bathroom, and comes back with duct tape.

"OW!" Hope gives this high-pitched screech of pain from the glass being removed but it starts feeling better almost immediately after, just like Lizzie predicted.

"Ow to my ear drums." Penelope mutters under her breath as she massages her ears, which are in pain from Hope's high-pitched screech.

After there's no blood on Hope's foot, Josie puts shoes on her so it won't happen again in the duration of cleaning the rest of the dorm room.

"Alright. On to decorating the rest of the school." Lizzie exclaims once the dorm room's clean and the four of them head to the main hall in order to continue decorating.

Once they reach the main hall, Lizzie immediately walks over to MG so she can help him decorate the new area that she chose for them the day before.

Hope walks over to Landon in order to help him decorate and Josie starts to drag Penelope to a different box of Christmas stuff when Alaric stops them.

"That area's already decorated, why don't you help me with decorating the tree?" Alaric suggests after pointing out the fact that where Josie and Penelope were heading was already decorated.

Josie and Penelope look at each other then look over to Hope, who is glancing over at them curiously as she raises an eyebrow at them.

The two them shrug at Hope in response to her raised eyebrow then follow Ric to help him decorate the tree that Emma and Dorian just finished putting together and are now putting upright.

"I'm going to go find a box of ornaments." Dorian claims, realizing that there are no ornaments then walks away, with Emma following.

Penelope and Josie exchange looks once again after they see a box of ornaments that Dorian would've seen if he turned to the right.

"So, what exactly are you two doing?" Alaric asks cryptically, catching their attention.

"What do you mean Dr. Saltzman? We're helping decorate the school for Christmas." Penelope responds, looking very confused by his question.

"No, I'm talking about with Lizzie." Alaric clarifies in a hushed tone so no one can hear which causes Josie and Penelope to look horrified but they quickly cover it up.

"Dad, why would you think that we'd be doing anything with Lizzie?" Josie wonders curiously with a slight laugh that sounds a little forced, not that Josie noticed.

"Well, it's actually for Lizzie, not with her. Tell me, why do two want Lizzie and MG together?" Alaric whispers this question as he looks at them suspiciously.

This question has Josie and Penelope gaping at him in horror, trying to figure out how he knows.

**A/N: So, THAT'S what Ric does with his newfound information, he informs them of his knowledge. Well, Is Alaric ****now** **involved ****in the game or is he just reminding them to be discreet? On the other hand, poor Hope, who knew werewolves could get monomania? Also, who completely trashed the dorm room? Another thing, why are Dorian and Emma always together?**


	13. This Quest Will End Once I'm Involved

Josie and Penelope keep their shocked and horrified facial expressions, before Josie recovers from it.

"How do you know about that?" Josie asks in a whisper, still in shock but Ric just smiles with a small laugh.

"Well, if I were the two of you, I'd be more careful about what you tell each other when you're in public." Alaric recommends then leaves to help Dorian and Emma, who've just returned with boxes of ornaments, leaving Penelope and Josie to conclude that he must have overheard their conversation from before they went looking for Hope.

"I shouldn't have said anything." Josie pouts, putting the blame on herself as she was the one who said it.

"No, this is on me. I pushed you to tell me what you were thinking." Penelope assures Josie that it is in fact her fault that the headmaster is aware of their game.

The two of them just shake their heads then go on to decorating a different part of the school, leaving the tree decorating for other people.

Sometime later, Lizzie goes to make an announcement but trips over her feet and takes MG down with her, landing on him, that luckily no one saw.

Lizzie quickly gets to her feet, feeling awkward, then rushes to the staircase in order to make her announcement.

"Alright. Decorating is officially over for today but I just want to say that I'm very glad at the progress we all made. Your help is highly appreciated." Lizzie makes her announcement then expresses her feelings on how the decorating has been coming along before she walks off and the rest of the room starts clearing out.

After everyone clears out, Lizzie takes out her phone and quickly texts Josie about what happened before she made the announcement, then sends another text claiming that they need to talk then rushes out of the main hall with Josie looking at her phone.

"Um, Lizzie needs to talk to me. Apparently she fell on MG before she had made the announcement ." Josie states to the other members of the Mizzie Shipper's Quest then walks out of the main hall in order to talk to her twin.

Josie walks into her and Lizzie's dorm room, where Lizzie is anxiously pacing around, looking nervous.

"Hey, I got your texts. What do you need to tell me?" Josie wonders, looking worried by her twin's nervousness.

"As you know from my first text, I fell on MG before I made the announcement." Lizzie brings up her first text and Josie nods before motioning for her to continue then takes out her phone.

"Well, the weirdest thing happened when I did. Like for a small moment, I felt something weird. I think it was an attraction or something." Lizzie blurts out what's on her mind and Josie looks up at her in shock, stopping her from texting.

"What do you mean?" Josie still looks shocked by Lizzie's blurting as she finishes her text, sends it, then swiftly puts it back in her pocket.

"I don't know. It's just, for a split second after I landed on him, I think I wanted to kiss him." Lizzie confesses as she looks at her twin in horror at her feelings, having finally stopped pacing.

Josie tries not to smile at this confession, so she just continues to look at Lizzie in shock.

"I'm not really sure what you want me to do about this." Josie admits, clearly confused and Lizzie sighs in annoyance.

"I want you to tell me that I'm an idiot for being interested. Or tell me that MG's an idiot because he was probably behind me falling on him. Just something that will make me feel better, or help me realize that MG is only friend material." Lizzie rants about what she wants Josie to do.

"Um, you do realize that MG is my ex, right?" Josie reminds her, then immediately regrets her words when Lizzie smiles.

"Of course, thanks sis. You just gave me the perfect reason to stay away from him. Never date someone who's dated your sibling. You just made me feel a lot better." Lizzie thanks Josie for reminding her that MG dated her twin and hugs her while she smiles as a result.

"Well, MG isn't a bad…" Josie starts to tell her twin something that would encourage her to be interested in MG but Lizzie cuts her off.

"I'm so glad to have you as a sister and I hate that we don't spend much time together anymore." Lizzie hugs Josie again then skips over to the other side of the room.

"So, you want to stay and watch a movie with me?" Lizzie wonders curiously then holds up two christmas movies with a smile on her face.

"Um, I would love to but Hope just texted claiming that she needs help finding something in her closet." Josie lies, holding up her phone so Lizzie can see the back of it.

"Oh, well, can we watch a movie when you return? It doesn't have to be a christmas movie." Lizzie quickly adds after wondering if her twin would want to watch a movie which has Josie smile warmly at her.

"Yeah, we can watch a movie when I return." Josie agrees to the plan, which has Lizzie smile broadly at her, then she walks out and rushes to Penelope's dorm room.

"Hey guys." Josie says once she walks into Penelope's dorm room.

"You know, we really suck at keeping these meetings to a minimum." Kaleb points out as he eats a glazed donut and Hope nods in agreement as she eats a spoonful of chunky monkey.

Penelope looks like she wants to yell at both of them for eating but quickly remembers that she promised that she wouldn't complain about anything as long as the other members were helpful.

"So, the bad news first." Penelope starts and this catches the group's attention, minus Josie.

"When you were still outside in the snow, I pressed Josie to tell me what was on her mind and now Dr. Saltzman knows about our game because he overheard it." Penelope reveals in one breath as she motioned to Hope and they all gape at her in shock.

"What the hell happened to keeping a low profile?" Kaleb's question was just one of the many questions that were ranted at Penelope after her confession, with most of the tones being either confused or annoyed.

"Guys!" Josie shouts as she does a silent pain infliction spell, that affects even Landon, after she siphoned some magic from the school and they all get quiet then look at her.

"I'm sorry but arguing isn't going to get anything done except give everyone headaches." Josie apologizes for her actions and they all remain silent, looking at her.

"So, how was your chat with Lizzie?" Penelope speaks up, breaking the silence and Josie just sighs.

"It was interesting, to say the least." Josie's words are cryptic so Hope says something.

"How interesting was it?" Hope presses Josie to speak as she places interesting in air quotes before continuing to eat her ice cream and Josie sighs again.

"Lizzie informed me that after she fell on MG, she thought a small part of her wanted to kiss him." Josie reveals to the group what Lizzie revealed to her earlier and they all look shocked at this.

"Wait, really?" Penelope clearly wants reassurance to what Josie's saying.

"Yea. But she only told me about it because she wanted me to give her reasons as to why she shouldn't." Josie continues revealing how her and Lizzie's conversation went.

"And I might have let slip the reminder that I dated him." Josie blurts out then covers her mouth with her hands in an attempt to hide the fact that she's blushing from embarrassment.

"You didn't." Penelope sighs out in annoyance, looking at Josie, who just simply nods as she continues to blush from embarrassment with her hands over her mouth.

"Did she say how she fell?" Hope interrogates and Josie shakes her head as she removes her hands from over mouth.

"No, she didn't." Josie responds verbally even though she already shook her head.

"Is how she fell relevant?" Rafael wonders, looking at Hope curiously.

"Well, before we went to help set up, someone completely trashed her and Josie's dorm room. There's a possibility the person who did it, could have wanted Lizzie to trip and embarrass her, not knowing that she'd take MG down with her." Hope gives an explanation as to why it could be relevant before getting an angry facial expression.

"And if I find out that the person who has been sabotaging our game is the same person who stole my phone, I will end them so painfully, the devil might actually weep." Hope's eyes go yellow as wind gently blows through her hair even though the window is not open.

"Hope." Josie looks concerned for her as she breathes causing the gentle wind and her yellow eyes to disappear.

"I have no idea where that came from." Hope admits, seemingly snapping back into reality from her anger.

"Wait, your phone's missing?" Kaleb looks at Hope confused.

"Yeah, someone took it and I don't know who, yet." Hope agrees that her phone is missing.

"That's weird. I swear I saw you using it yesterday." Rafael claims, also confused on Hope's phone disappearing.

"I was. But my phone disappearing is a mystery to be solved another time. Right now, we have to focus on fixing Josie's slip." Hope turns to the light on Lizzie and MG after agreeing that she was using her phone the other day along with claiming that she'll find the phone thief at a later date.

"Well, christmas is in like, two days. How are we going to fix it?" Landon wonders after pointing out the small time limit they have until christmas.

"I'll figure it out. I promised that I'd watch a movie with her when I return, so maybe I can get some answers and fix my mistake." Josie suggests, sounding uncertain about it but the others nod in agreement and they all part ways.

"Hey, did you help Hope find what she was looking for?" this was Lizzie's first question when Josie returned as she sits on the bed.

"Uh, yeah. Took a bit longer than I expected but she's got a lot of stuff in her closet." Josie responds, lying not that Lizzie noticed as she just casually nods at the answer.

"So, what movie did you pick?" Josie wonders, reminding Lizzie that they made plans to watch a movie when she returned.

"Uh, I didn't. I was actually just thinking about how we can skip the movie today but we will watch one tomorrow." Lizzie assures Josie after claiming she's not interested in a movie.

"Okay. Care to tell me what made you change your mind?" Josie questions but Lizzie just simply shakes her head.

"It's nothing. I just don't feel like watching a movie tonight. Come, sleep in my bed." Lizzie pats her mattress, motioning for Josie to stay with her and Josie just crawls on the bed, where the two of them fall asleep.

The next morning, by next morning at four a.m., Lizzie gets out of bed, quietly changes into street clothes, then sneaks out after grabbing something from her nightstand drawer.

Lizzie quietly walks down the hallway and all the way to the outside of a different dorm room.

Lizzie takes a deep breath before gently knocking on the door, it not taking long for someone to answer it.

"Lizzie? Why are you here at four o'clock in the morning?" MG looks at her curiously, shocked that she's there.

"We need to talk." Lizzie claims then motions for him to come outside, which he does as he's already in street clothes.

Lizzie drags MG to the main hall, which is deserted as no one is awake yet except them.

"What's with the, quite literal, wake up call?" MG asks, very confused as to why Lizzie dragged him all the way to the main hall at four a.m. and Lizzie just rolls her eyes.

"I didn't want Kaleb to overhear us talking." Lizzie exclaims but this makes MG even more confused.

"Uh, do you know Kaleb? That guy can sleep through a tornado." MG reveals some information on how Kaleb sleeps but this causes Lizzie to sigh in annoyance.

"You are not observant are you MG? Kaleb has been texting Hope, Josie, Penelope, Rafael, and Landon about you." Lizzie spills the dirt she has on Kaleb, this shocking MG greatly.

"What?" MG looks shocked and even more confused, so Lizzie pulls out a phone from her pocket.

"Yep. All the evidence is right here. On Hope's phone." Lizzie admits then opens the group text to show MG, who looks at it intently.

"Where did you get Hope's phone?" MG clearly looks worried that Lizzie might have stolen it.

"She left it on a table in the dining hall. I'll return it later but you needed to know that your roommate is secretive and meeting up with five other people in a group that Hope claims to be a quest of sorts." Lizzie explains as she scrolls through the messages in the group chat.

"You do realize that this means your sister is equally secretive, right?" MG points out and Lizzie looks horrified by the mention of it yet she recovers quickly.

"Of course, I'm aware. Looking at the singular messaging, Hope's never sent Josie any recent texts. Which means that she lied yesterday, mainly because she knew that Hope didn't have her phone." Lizzie realizes, looking infuriated at the fact that Josie lied to her.

"So, what exactly are we going to do about this?" MG wonders curiously, believing that Lizzie has a plan, and she smirks at him.

"Well, whatever this 'quest' is, it was motivational enough for Hope and Landon to be involved in it. Which means, we have to tear this group apart with a long con." Lizzie deduces, still smirking deviously and although MG is mildly intimidated by her words, he still smirks with her.

**A/N: Ooh, the scheme that is the Mizzie Shipper's Quest is taking more of an effect, Lizzie, even if it were briefly, thought about kissing MG. Apparently Alaric just warns them to stop having public conversations, smart, they needed that lesson. Uh oh, Lizzie is the one who stole Hope's phone, she'll have hell to pay if Hope finds out. Also, MG and Lizzie are now aware of the quest and they're making plans to end it even though they don't even know what it's about. Josie is going to be in some serious trouble once she realizes that Lizzie's aware of the game that she's a member of. The suspense shall continue to build and the plots just might get more devious.**


	14. Oh My God, It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Once it's seven a.m., everyone starts to file in, no one realizing or caring that MG and Lizzie are already setting up.

MG and Lizzie exchange looks when Josie, Penelope, Rafael, Landon, Kaleb, and Hope walk in, which has Lizzie wink at him before she returns to decorating.

"Hey, Kaleb. Want to help me out with putting Christmas lights up? I could use the extra hands." MG claims after he walks up to the people who just walked in.

"Uh, sure." Kaleb agrees, sounding uncertain but only after Penelope gave him a look, which MG pretends he didn't notice by smiling at the agreement.

Once they walk away, Lizzie calls out to them after she sighs in frustration.

"Hey, which one of you has good hands? I can't untangle these lights." Lizzie exclaims after wondering which one has good hands causing them all to look at each other before Rafael walks over after Landon encourages him.

"Hey, Lizzie." Rafael says hello and she smiles at him, seemingly glad that he's the one who walked over to her.

The rest of the group Rafael and Kaleb left just leave to decorate a different part of the room that hasn't been touched.

"Oh, come on. You can jump higher than that." Hope exclaims, mocking Landon, before shoving a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

Landon shoots her an annoyed glare that she doesn't seem to notice before trying to jump up again.

"You know, this is supposed to be a group effort." Josie reminds them and Hope just nods at her.

"Exactly. I'm giving you guys moral support with my presence. Also, decorating has been getting me more infuriated lately, so I think it's best if I sit this day out." Hope explains, with a mouthful of ice cream, why she's there then gives a good reason as to why she's not participating in decorating before shoving more ice cream into her already full mouth.

"You should know, I'm officially concerned by your intake of dairy products." Penelope alerts Hope of what's on her mind causing Hope to simply smile at her.

"Well, I'm touched by your concern." Hope states with a smile then lifts her spoonful of ice cream as a form of salute before putting the spoon in her mouth.

Meanwhile, MG takes the opportunity to ask Kaleb about his team up while they put up lights around the stair railing.

"So, when did you start talking to Hope and Landon?" MG wonders, immediately catching Kaleb's attention.

"What do you mean?" Kaleb responds, confused on the topic so MG elaborates.

"It's just, I've noticed that you're spending more time with them along with Penelope and Josie. That's all." MG clarifies, unknowingly making Kaleb nervous before he covers it up.

"Oh yeah. Penelope has a out-of-school science experiment and she asked for our help." Kaleb lies, not that MG seems to notice as he just nods at the answer.

"What kind of science experiment?" MG sounds very curious of this lie and Kaleb quietly gulps nervously before replying.

"Um, some very time-consuming project. I can't really remember." Kaleb admits and MG nods again.

"Why did she ask for your help along with Landon, Hope, and Josie?" MG is grilling Kaleb about the lie he just came up with, clearly curious, which makes Kaleb wish he never answered the first question.

"Well, me and Penelope are friends, so she wanted my help with it. Uh, Josie is great with numbers. Landon's all into science experiments and thought it would be fun when she asked. I'm not entirely sure why she asked Hope for help with it, though." Kaleb lies yet again, but coming up with real reasons as to why Penelope would ask for help with her experiment.

"Oh, and what about Rafael?" MG brings up the second werewolf in the group, most likely realizing that he forgot about him.

"Um, he's great at coming up with hypothesis' so he's great for her science experiment." Kaleb explains why Rafael is also part of the group and what he's saying is true about all of them so MG isn't too suspicious of it, much to Kaleb's relief.

"Oh, okay. That makes sense. I guess a part of me just really wants to know what Hope's bringing to the experiment table." MG states, sounding curious, then drops it and goes back putting lights up.

"You and me both." Kaleb murmurs under his breath then gets back to setting up lights as well.

Over to where Lizzie is, she strikes up conversation with Rafael as he tries to untangle some Christmas lights.

"So, when did you Kaleb get close?" Lizzie blurts as she untangles her own set of lights.

"Uh, what?" Rafael looks confused by this question as he looks at Lizzie.

"I've just taken notice that you've been entering with a group for the past week during the entire decorating committee, so I just assumed that you and Kaleb were talking. That's all." Lizzie explains the conversation topic she chose and Rafael, mildly worried, simply nods.

"Oh yeah, uh, I've been talking to Kaleb more often. He's cool." Rafael agrees to the fact that him and Kaleb are talking.

"And why are you hanging out with Penelope? I didn't realize you two were close either." Lizzie points out after asking him about Penelope.

"Contrary to your belief, I'm actually really good friends with Penelope. She gives me information for my research." Rafael reveals, shocking Lizzie greatly.

"What kind of research?" Lizzie looks intrigued by the fact that Rafael and Penelope are friends, so Rafael enlightens her.

"Oh, I'm just curious about the Supernatural even more now that I am one. I do research on wolves myself, I go to Kaleb on vampires, and Penelope gives me information on witches. It's very helpful simply for my mind." Rafael explains his research and why he goes to Penelope for it.

"You do know that me and Josie are witches too, right?" Lizzie reminds him, as she frowns believing he forgot about that fact but he just nods, implying that he didn't forget.

"I know, it's just, Josie kind of gave me all the info on siphons and I figured, so long as you have magic you can do any spell." Rafael admits why he doesn't go to Lizzie or Josie on witches and Lizzie nods, seemingly understanding of his reason.

"What kind of information does Penelope give you?" Lizzie is still intrigued by Rafael and Penelope's friendship, which keeps Rafael talking, much to her joy.

"A lot, actually. Uh, apparently her parents are witch experts. Her entire family is, if I'm being honest. Penelope's bloodline goes back generations and everything there is to know about witches her family knows. The knowledge of it gets passed down to each new generation, so hers is very extensive and she actually doesn't mind when I pick her brain for her witch knowledge." Rafael rants to Lizzie about Penelope, her knowledge, and her family, all of it shocking, along with impressing, Lizzie greatly.

"Wow, I didn't know that." Lizzie states, still shocked and impressed by what Rafael has just shared.

"Well, that's because you bitchy banter with her, not get to know her. She's actually a really fun and cool person." Rafael confesses after throwing Lizzie under the bus of how she treats Penelope, which makes her realize that he's right and they then continue to untangle lights in silence.

After the decorating is over, Lizzie motions for MG to come over to where she is, which he does, not noticing that the group they briefly separated all exchange looks as they pack up their things.

Once MG walks over, Lizzie reaches out for his hand and they hold them for a moment before stopping then leaning against the wall.

"When did that happen?" Hope murmurs in Penelope's ear as the group watches them talk.

"I'm not sure." Penelope shrugs as she replies with uncertainty, still looking at the scene before them.

"Before you ask, I can't hear a word that they're saying." Kaleb cuts Josie off, answering the question that he thought she was going to ask, causing her frown.

"I was actually going to wonder what you and MG were talking about." Josie reveals what her true question was, which makes Kaleb nervous.

"Uh, not here. At our next meeting." Kaleb whispers then motions to MG and Lizzie.

Meanwhile, Lizzie and MG are having their own conversation about the day.

"So, what did Kaleb say?" Lizzie questions in a normal voice, seemingly confident that no one is listening.

"He said that the group that consists of him and five others that always show up together, are to help Penelope with an out-of-school science experiment. The only thing I don't get is why Hope's apart of the group." MG passes to Lizzie the lie that Kaleb came up with and Lizzie looks skeptical.

"He lied." Lizzie reveals plainly and MG gets a look of confusion.

"What are you talking about?" MG voices his confusion but Lizzie just rolls her eyes.

"According to the group message on Hope's phone, it's a quest of sorts. You couldn't have actually believed that it was a science experiment, did you?" Lizzie wonders and look MG gives her just answers the question and she rolls her eyes at him.

"How was your conversation with prince charming?" MG asks, changing the subject and trying not to sound jealous, but failing as Lizzie scrunches her face up in confusion.

"Who?" Lizzie calls him out that he used a nickname, so he backtracks.

"Rafael." MG clarifies and Lizzie nods then gets a look of guilt.

"I didn't actually talk much about the group he's in. Instead, I found out that he's actually really good friends with Penelope." Lizzie admits that she didn't talk about the group but found out different information instead.

"Don't worry, by tomorrow, this group will be disintegrated. All we have to do now is to plant seeds of doubt and confusion." Lizzie gives MG a very devious smirk before they walk away, their entire conversation being unheard.

An hour later, Lizzie is skipping through the halls, overly cheerful, until she quite literally runs into Hope, who catches Lizzie and prevents herself from falling backwards.

"Hey, Lizzie." Hope greets her, mildly concerned by the blonde's enthusiasm.

"Hi, Hope. I just want you to know that I'm in an amazing mood." Lizzie claims, still very happy.

"Ok. Care to tell me why you are?" Hope suggests that Lizzie tell her about her good mood, which Lizzie smiles at.

"I just, I spoke with MG, I had a great conversation with my dad, I had sex with Landon, I'm just in an over-the-top great mood." Lizzie smiles happily at Hope, who frowns in confusion by her last claim.

"I'm sorry, you did what?" Hope looks betrayed at Lizzie's words.

"I had sex with Landon? It was totally unplanned for but you know, he kissed me and I thought why not. He is a great kisser, isn't he?" Lizzie looks to Hope for reassurance on Landon's kissing after admitting that Landon was the one who kissed her, which shocks Hope greatly.

"Um, I have to go." Hope walks away from Lizzie, who watches her leave then smiles more deviously.

Meanwhile, MG talks with Rafael, who is walking to his dorm.

"Hey Rafael." MG greets him, which catches his attention.

"Hey MG, what's up?" Rafael looks confused by his companion.

"I just took notice of how close you are with Josie and Penelope." MG points out and Rafael nods in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm friends with them." Rafael agrees that he is close with them.

"Okay yeah but like they are both really hot. So are you friends? Or are you 'friends'?" MG puts friends in quotes implying that he believes Rafael's sleeping with both of them.

"Uh, excuse me?" Rafael looks more confused than he was before.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not judging, both of them are great kissers. I know from personal experience." MG spills the beans that he kissed both Penelope and Josie and Rafael looks shocked.

"Um…" Before Rafael can say anything, MG cuts him off.

"Unless, of course, you're more into the broody tribrid type. I hear her and Landon ended things so she's officially up for grabs. Oh, I got to go. Josie wants me." MG holds up his phone, making Rafael believe that Josie texted him then walks off, leaving Rafael curious on how MG knew that he had a crush on Hope.

Lizzie walks into her dorm room where Josie is and smiles.

"Hey, sis." Lizzie looks more shy than she did when talking with Hope, catching Josie's attention.

"Hey Lizzie. What's wrong?" Josie looks concerned by her sister's mood.

"Look, if you want to get back with Penelope, you should. I have been way too harsh towards her, mainly because I didn't want you to get involved with her again and get your heart re-broken." Lizzie admits in a shy voice, this confession shocking Josie.

"But before you decide that you do want to date her again, there's something you should know." Lizzie sits on the bed, across from Josie, who looks worried by what Lizzie's going to tell her.

"What is it?" Josie looks curious and concerned, which unknowingly keeps Lizzie talking.

""It's just… remember the day when you told me that you slept with MG and I said I had a terrible night?" Lizzie brings up the day that Josie and MG first started to see each other and Josie nods, remembering it.

"I remember." Josie agrees verbally, even though she already nodded.

"Well, I was in the gym, venting my anger about the fact that I was single and you were probably on a date with MG at the dorm. Then Penelope showed up, she looked upset about something. We argued, then instincts kicked in, inhibitions ran low, and… I slept with her that night." Lizzie reveals her night the day MG and Josie slept together, Josie looking horrified and shocked.

"You slept with Penelope." Josie sighs out, looking hurt, betrayed, and mildly jealous as Lizzie looks down, embarrassed by her actions even if it happened over a month ago.

"I know I should have told you sooner, I was just angry at myself. Then when I was no longer angry, the two of you were getting close again and I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I'm really sorry Jos." Lizzie apologizes for what she did then gets up and leaves, so Josie can process everything that she was just told.

Josie just sits on her bed, looking shocked and feeling betrayed by Lizzie's confession as she's near tears and hurt that Penelope never told her about it, even though she's had plenty of opportunities to do so.

While walking down the hall, Lizzie passes Rafael, whom she doesn't seem to notice and he doesn't seem to notice her.

Rafael walks into the library, where Hope is, upset by Lizzie's confession that she slept with Landon.

"Hey, Hope." Rafael approaches her and she wipes some tears from her eyes as he sits down next to her in front of the fireplace.

"What's wrong?" Rafael wonders, clearly wanting to comfort her.

"Um, I just found out that Landon slept with Lizzie. So, I'm just kind of hiding from him now." Hope admits why she's in the library and what happened to cause her to be in the library.

"I would ask if you talked to him but since you're hiding out in here, you didn't." Rafael correctly assumes as Hope nods.

"I'm sorry that Landon cheated on you." Rafael apologizes for Landon's actions which has Hope give him a small smile in return.

"Oh, he's going to be plenty sorry once I see him again today." Hope assures Rafael, who just simply nods in understanding.

"Thank you, for being sorry. It wasn't your actions, but you still apologized so thank you. Most people don't even apologize for their own actions." Hope confesses, thanking him and he smiles at her.

"What are friends for?" Rafael asks then they look at each other longingly with Hope smiling at him.

"Well, I'm definitely glad I have you as a friend." Hope reveals as she continues to smile at him and Rafael, knowing that he's most likely taking this the wrong way yet doesn't seem to care, grabs Hope's chin then leans in to kiss her, which is something that she reciprocates, much to his shock.

The kiss lasts for a few seconds before they part but Hope, realizing that Rafael is interested, kisses him again, this one more passionate.

Both Hope and Rafael seem to be enjoying kissing each other before Rafael breaks it, realizing something.

"We can't do this. You haven't broken up with Landon, this is wrong." Rafael shuts out his feelings for her by bringing up his brother and the fact they're still together then walks out of the library leaving Hope embarrassed by her actions and realizing that he's right.

"It's time for the last puzzle piece to be put in place." Lizzie exclaims once her and MG are in a janitor's closet.

"Do I really have to do this part?" MG looks like he's having second thoughts about this.

"I would but I already did my parts. Now, it's your turn to do part four." Lizzie looks at him with a reassuring look, as though to say it's for the greater good and MG sighs, knowing that she's right.

"Okay, I'll do it. But you should know that I will be taking no joy in it." MG points out then leaves the janitor's closet in search of Penelope.

"Hey Peez." MG approaches and greets Penelope, who smiles at the greeting.

"Hey MG. What's up?" Penelope immediately gets suspicious of MG coming to talk to her as they haven't been speaking much lately.

"I was wondering if we could hang out, like old times. We are still friends, remember?" MG reminds Penelope that they're friends after he suggests that they hang out.

"Yeah, we can hang out." Penelope agrees to hanging out with him, clearly no longer suspicious of him approaching her.

So, Penelope and MG spend almost the rest of the day together, when he strikes up a conversation.

"I always wondered what it was like." MG states vaguely, catching Penelope's attention as they lounge on the grass outside the school.

"Hmm?" Penelope looks curious as she glances over at him.

"I just, have you ever thought about what it would be like?" MG asks in a very vague manner after he sits up causing Penelope to follow suit.

"Milton, if you're wondering if I ever thought about what it would be like if I were a deer, I'd say my life would probably be easier." Penelope responds to the possible question he was going to ask her but MG shakes his head.

"No, being pregnant." MG says, making Penelope curious.

"What? Why would you be thinking about that?" Penelope wonders, looking very confused by MG's words.

"I was just thinking about it and I'm like how do women have more than one child and still be alive? It's incredible, the human body is a fascinating thing Peez. I think we should give it more credit." MG explains why he's thinking about being pregnant, which makes Penelope thoughtful.

"Oh, also, Josie's pregnant." MG blurts out causing Penelope to look shocked.

"What?" Penelope looks horrified by this revelation as MG nods at her.

"Yep, she just found out today. She told Lizzie about it and Lizzie told me. Which means that I'm going to be a parent soon, seeing as how I am the only person that she has been sleeping with recently." MG reveals, implying that him and Josie are still, in fact, having a sexual relationship despite being broken up for over a month.

"Well, I should probably get going. It was really fun hanging out with you today." MG claims then gets to his feet and walks back to the school, leaving Penelope sitting in the grass, contemplating what he's just told her.

**A/N: So, I focused more on Lizzie and MG's scheme and now it's two truths and a lie, or maybe it's three truths and a lie, two truths, two lies. Either way, which of these are true and how is this going to affect the Quest? The couples of this chapter are very shocking. I mean, Lizzie and Landon, Hope and Rafael, Lizzie and Penelope! Not to mention that MG and Josie might still be a thing. Is Lizzie and MG's plan actually going to work? If it does, what exactly will happen to the Mizzie Shipper's Quest? Will it end or will THIS just be the beginning of something else?**


	15. So, This is Christmas?

The Mizzie Shipper's Quest have a meeting, called by Penelope as she needs to clarify MG's words.

So the six of them all meet up in Penelope's dorm room as usual, with all of them looking mildly uncomfortable.

"I have to leave." Hope just blurts breaking the silence, catching everyone else's attention.

"Why?" Penelope looks confused and Hope sighs in exasperation.

"I can't stand being in the same room as him." Hope admits as she points to Landon, who looks shocked.

"What!? What did I do?" Landon sounds confused and offended by Hope's words as she glares at him in return.

"Oh, so she was so good that you can't remember." Hope assumes but this just confuses Landon even more.

"What are you talking about?" Landon is very confused and is unsure where this argument is going.

"Oh please, you slept with Lizzie." Hope reveals and the rest of the room looks shocked.

"No I didn't." Landon defends himself but Hope scoffs at this.

"Really? Then why don't you tell why she was practically glowing when she talked to me earlier." Hope suggests with a judgy look as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"I-I don't know. But I can guarantee it wasn't because we slept together. Which is something that I didn't do." Landon continues to defend himself but his hesitation is a small hint that something might have happened.

"You hesitated." Hope calls him out so Landon sighs in defeat.

"Okay, so I kissed her. But it wasn't like that, she made the move on me." Landon confesses and Hope looks shocked but not as angry.

"She told me earlier that you made the move on her. So, I'm not really sure which one of you is lying. Yet something tells me it isn't Lizzie. Despite exaggerating that you two had slept together, you did share a kiss." Hope accuses Landon of being the liar instead of Lizzie, due to his hesitation.

"I'm sorry I kissed Lizzie." Landon apologizes for kissing Lizzie and Hope rolls her eyes as her arms remain crossed over her chest.

"Yeah, well I'm not sorry I made out with Rafael." Hope admits in a blurting fashion that has Landon looking between her and Rafael, betrayed.

"To make matters worse, I think MG knows." Kaleb speaks up as he pops popcorn in his mouth, having the attention turn to him.

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Penelope questions and Kaleb just shrugs.

"When we were decorating the staircase with lights, he was just asking a bunch of questions on why I was hanging out with the five of you. We're okay, I came up with an excuse that we were helping you out with a science experiment that wasn't for school." Kaleb reveals what he and MG were talking about during the decorating then brings up the lie that he gave MG, motioning to Penelope when he did.

"Good. It's not exactly a lie, but not entirely the truth." Penelope agrees that what Kaleb told MG is a good cover story.

"You know what else isn't entirely the truth? You." Josie shoots a glare at Penelope, who looks at her in confusion.

"What?" Penelope's not entirely sure what Josie's accusing her of as she receives glares from her ex.

"When I was following the interpretation I thought that you wanted, and slept with MG for the first time, you were sleeping with my twin." Josie throws Penelope under the bus of her dishonesty causing Penelope to look at her in shock.

"How do you know that?" Penelope looks hurt by Josie knowing this.

"Lizzie told me right after she said that she was willing to give our possible relationship rekindling a chance." Josie admits and Penelope continues to look shocked before making a retort of her own.

"You're right, I did sleep with Lizzie but what I'm trying to figure out is why you wouldn't tell me that you're pregnant." Penelope pretends to shut off her emotions towards Josie and reveals what MG told her.

"What!" Hope turns to face Josie with a shocked and horrified expression.

"I'm not!" Josie shouts in defense of herself but Penelope scoffs at it.

"MG told me that he heard it from Lizzie, who heard it from you." Penelope reveals more of her conversation with MG causing Josie to look down in defeat.

"I didn't tell Lizzie. She must've assumed I was when she saw a stick in the garbage." Josie's tone is soft again and she looks like she might cry.

"I was going to ask if one of you could take me to the doctor in order to clarify it. The stick said positive but I'm still unsure." Josie confesses as she holds her stomach causing them all to look at her in shock.

"Is it MG's?" Penelope wonders curiously and Josie just looks at her confused.

"He told me that you two were still sleeping together after the break up." Penelope claims, revealing more of their conversation.

"No. Well, I slept with him once after the break up but everyone knows that vampires can't procreate." Josie admits that she actually did sleep with MG after they broke up but she doesn't believe that she is pregnant, and if she is, it's not MG's.

"Yeah, well they've been saying that since vampires were created and I exist." Hope pipes in on the conversation, indirectly bringing up her heritage.

"My dad was a vampire for a millennia longer than he was a hybrid. His werewolf side shouldn't have been able to trump his vampiric one and I'm under the impression that it didn't. My mother was a werewolf at the time and didn't become a vampire until after I was born. So, you can't say that vampires can't procreate when one of the people in this room had a vampire for a father." Hope explains her background and Josie just looks worried now.

"She makes a good point." Kaleb agrees with Hope as he tosses more pieces of popcorn in his mouth.

"Thank you, Kaleb." Hope thanks him then steals some popcorn and eats it.

Despite Josie's confession about possibly pregnant, an entire and intense argument erupts when Rafael reveals that he only made the move on Hope because MG said that she was officially up grabs.

Then a brutal fight breaks out between Landon and Rafael after Landon punches Rafael across the face, much to Hope and Josie's horror.

Rafael then engaged in another fight with Landon after Landon accidentally punched Hope when she tried to interfere with and stop the battle.

"Guys stop!" Hope shouts, getting in between them again, trying to stop them from fighting with each other.

"If you want to fight someone, fight MG! He was the one who advertised her." Rafael yells at Landon, who keeps trying to walk towards him but can't as Hope is between them.

"Yeah, well you're the one who took the advertisement!" Landon yells back, reminding his brother that he didn't have to take MG's words literally.

"I had no intentions to but she was upset from your infidelity and I comforted her. Then your girl made the move on me for a second time!" Rafael throws Hope under the bus as well as admits there was a second kiss and Hope gapes at him, betrayed, that he just threw her under the bus like that.

"You know what? I'm done. With you, with this group, and with you." Landon admits, heavily breathing after shouting as much as he did, motioning to Rafael, the room, and then Hope, who looks at him with a hurt expression.

"What are you talking about? Are… Are you breaking up with me?" Hope hesitates and Landon just nods in agreement with her words.

"Yeah, I am. I can't do this anymore. I won't. Especially if it means that you run off to my brother every time your feelings get hurt. I can't handle you, Hope. Not emotionally, not physically, not personality-wise, I just can't handle you and I don't think anyone else can either. So, I'm out. Of this group, of our relationship, I'm just out." Landon ends things with Hope and the group then storms out, physically exhausted from all of the fighting, leaving Hope in near tears.

"You going to walk out too?" Hope turns to Rafael, who looks down ashamed that he threw her under the bus earlier.

"Look, you should know that kissing you, it was an unregrettable mistake. I don't regret kissing you at all, but, I'm not romantically interested in you. So, it can't happen again." Hope tells Rafael how it is and he nods understandingly even though anger starts to show in his face.

"I can't be here right now. I will be at the next meeting, however." Rafael assures the group that he isn't leaving them, he just needs to be away for a while then walks out of the room with Hope still in near tears about her and Landon's break-up.

"What the hell happened to this group? It's like we completely fell apart." Josie sounds exhausted when she says this as she makes her way to sit on Penelope's bed, frowning.

"Well, five members still remain, so it didn't completely fall apart." Penelope tries to think positively for once as Josie thinks negatively and Hope just walks over to then stares at a mirror, touching the bruise that Landon gave her under the eye.

"Why isn't my healing up to par?" Hope mutters under her breath as she continues to look at the bruise in the mirror.

"You know Jo Jo, Emma is certified to give ultrasounds. You can go to her about it." Penelope reminds Josie of Emma's capabilities, which gets Kaleb thinking.

"Is there anything she can't do? I mean, she's a witch, she's a guidance counselor, she has a ton of medical experience, she can sing, she can dance, she can write, she's artistic as Hope's contribution of guess the drawing proved on Thanksgiving. Like, I'm starting to think the witch has super powers that aren't her witch abilities." Kaleb reveals his opinion on Emma, pointing out all the things that she's capable of in a mildly jealous yet more impressed manner.

The three girls in the room start thinking about this question intently.

"Um, she can't fly." Josie suggests but Hope shakes her head.

"No, she can. One, she has magic and can make herself levitate and two, since I'm friends with her, I know for a fact that she has a licence to fly a plane. So, she can fly under both pretenses." Hope reveals, shocking the other three in the room.

"Um, she can't, uh, fish." Josie puts out another suggestion but Hope intercedes again.

"It's not that she can't, it's that she's allergic to fish so she doesn't. But she did go fishing once, which is how she figured out that she was allergic to fish." Hope just reveals more information she has on Emma.

"Anything else you have on her before we throw out more possibilities of what she can't do?" Penelope questions curiously, so Hope just smiles and silently agrees to tell them.

"Um, she has a boating licence. So, she's capable of boating. She is actually a really good cook, as she made half the food at Thanksgiving. Um, what else? Oh, she can garden as most of the plants and herbs she uses in her medicine, she grows herself. Very impressive. Uh, she has papers that legitimize her ability to have, hold, and use a gun. Hmm? Oh, she has decorating skills but that one has been kind of obvious for the past week. Um, she's played various sports as a teen, so she's very athletic. Very, very well organized, which is a plus. She puts up with me, Penelope, and Lizzie, which is a very big plus. And she makes music, whether it's DJing, creating mash-ups, or playing an instrument." Hope reveals everything that she knows Emma can do leaving Josie, Kaleb, and Penelope gaping at her in shock of how she knows this.

"How did you know all of that?" Josie interrogates and Hope just shrugs in response.

"Well, I never open up about what she wants me to talk about, so I tell her what I do and she tells me what she does. That's how we became friends." Hope admits then gasps in realization.

"Oh, I almost forgot. She can speak several different languages. I can only remember like four, though. Uh, Russian, German, Greek, and French. Latin doesn't technically count as all witches speak latin so. But she became fluent in the language before she tapped into her magic. Fun fact." Hope really likes talking about what Emma can do, most likely because she's talking about a friend, and apparently talking about friends puts her in a good mood, which is why no one's complaining about her happy babbling.

"I'm not sure what I can't believe more. The fact that Landon kissed Lizzie, the fact that Hope kissed Rafael, or the fact that Lizzie actually confessed something we swore we'd never speak of." Penelope lists the things she can't believe, trying to figure out which one is the most unbelievable.

"Um, all of those are pretty unbelievable if you ask me." Kaleb speaks up and Penelope's too physically and emotionally exhausted to argue on where he got McDonald's, so she just sighs as she goes to lounge on her bed next to Josie.

"Oh, Rafael's right. My bed is more comfortable than the other dorm beds." Penelope realizes as she quotes Rafael on what he said after the day out shopping, which happened nearly a month ago.

"Mm hmm." Josie nods in agreement as she just dozes off, also clearly tired from the day.

"Um, wasn't someone taking you to see Emma?" Hope brings up the fact that Josie still believes she's pregnant, which causes Josie to sit up almost immediately.

"Oh, I completely forgot. This bed is so comfortable it made me momentarily forget my life." Jose admits as she scrambles off the bed and Hope looks at the bed, mildly intrigued by it.

"Do you think it will work for me?" Hope questions as she continues to look at the mattress, intrigued by Josie's words.

"You can find out later." Penelope claims as she gets off the bed and the four of them go to see Emma.

"Hey, Emma." Hope greets her and she smiles at the three visitors.

"Hey. What can I help you with?" Emma immediately assumes that they need something and Josie smiles shyly at her.

"Yeah, I need you to confirm something." Josie states catching Emma's attention, as she looks at Josie curiously.

"You have to promise not to tell my dad." Josie quickly adds before telling Emma the problem.

"I promise." Emma promises with a nod of agreement and Josie sighs in relief.

"I think I'm pregnant." Josie reveals in a low voice and Emma looks at her shocked, unaware that she was even having sex.

"I took a pregnancy test and it came up positive. So if you could run a quick ultrasound." Josie suggests and it's obvious with her tone of voice that she believes she's asking too much of Emma.

"Yeah, I can do that." Emma agrees to running an ultrasound for Josie then starts setting up what she needs for it.

"So, are you two just supporting or did you want me to run a test, too? Just wondering while I have this stuff out." Emma assures the other two she just wants to know why they are there.

"Oh no. We are simply here for Josie." Hope was the first to disagree and Penelope nods along with her, agreeing to Hope's words.

Josie just patiently lies on a bed then Emma gives her an ultrasound, all four of them staring at the monitor.

They all continue to look at the screen, with Josie looking the most nervous, as Emma rubs the remote against Josie's stomach.

"Well, from the looks of it, you're in the clear. It was just a scare." Emma eases Josie's nerves and confirms that she is, in fact, not pregnant like the stick suggested, which relieves Josie greatly.

"Thank you. I was really worried for a moment." Josie sighs out in relief sounding grateful that Emma confirmed that she wasn't pregnant.

Josie partially sits up in order to wipe her stomach off then sits up completely and swings her feet over so they're dangling off the bed.

"Thank you again for confirming that." Josie thanks Emma again and Emma just smiles.

"Anytime." Emma assures them and the three girls leave, only to see Kaleb standing outside, waiting.

"So, what's the verdict?" Kaleb questions once he notices and walks up to them.

"In the clear. It was a false alarm." Josie responds with a nod, sounding relieved.

Before any of them can say anything else, Rafael walks up looking embarrassed and ashamed, which definitely doesn't go unnoticed.

"What's wrong? You look like someone ran over your kitten or something." Josie points out and Rafael just looks away evasively.

"I wanted to apologize for storming out of the meeting, I wasn't angry at you, I just needed to get the courage of what I'm about to say." Rafael apologizes for his behavior as he looks the most apologetic at Hope, who smiles shyly at him.

"What are you about say?" Penelope looks mildly worried but Rafael looks around to see multiple students walking around.

"Not here." Rafael claims so the five of them head back to Penelope's dorm room and Rafael seems more anxious when he enters.

"Okay so, you're probably going to hate me, Hope, but remember, like weeks ago, after Lizzie was nearly killed in her dorm room and you confronted me?" Rafael looks at Hope, who nods in agreement as she looks confused.

"Yeah, and you told me that you hooked him up to the truth orb." Hope still looks confused and Rafael nods.

"Yeah but I lied to you. I still hooked him up to the orb but one his answers that I told you was a lie. The orb glowed blue when he said it but then I talked to Lizzie after I left here earlier and she said that the assailant aggressively kissed her before they walked away, meaning that Landon was, in fact, responsible for the entire paintball incident." Rafael reveals all of this information in one breath, this horrifying Hope greatly and shocking the rest of them.

"Why would he lie?" Josie wonders, reeling from the shock first.

"He didn't, the orb glowed blue when he said that he had nothing to do with it but then I talk to Lizzie and now I'm just not sure anymore." Rafael admits his uncertainty.

"We already know that there are two assailants. Landon is no longer one because he found his key but there's still a second person who is looking for that key. So, who's thinking what I'm thinking?" Hope looks at the other four members expectantly and Josie looks at her intently before responding.

"You're either thinking about ice cream, taking a nap, or there were two people involved in Lizzie's attack. I can't tell, you're wearing the 'I'm too hard to read' look so you could be thinking about all or none of those." Josie claims, revealing that Hope has a look that says you can't read her facial expression and Hope blinks a couple times, processing this, before she finally responds.

"I'm actually thinking about all of the above, also I didn't know that was a look." Hope admits that Josie's claims were right as well as revealing she didn't know she had certain looks.

"Either way, yeah, there might have been two people present but if there were then, why didn't the second assailant pick up the key before Lizzie did?" Hope asks the question that's on her mind after shaking off the fact that Josie is apparently capable of reading her mind.

"What if we're looking at this wrong? I mean, what if Lizzie is actually the second assailant?" Kaleb wonders aloud and these questions get the others confused.

"That makes no sense." Josie is the first to object to this but Kaleb seems to have a retort to this.

"And it makes sense for Landon to assault Lizzie with a paint gun?" Kaleb retorts causing Josie to go silent and look away evasively.

"I mean, think about. No one actually saw Lizzie get nearly killed in her dorm room, just like no one actually saw the dorm room get trashed. I mean, no one has even seen this second assailant so maybe Lizzie lied about being aggressively kissed because no one saw it, according to Rafael the orb glowed blue when Landon answered the question, and we all know those orbs can't be tampered with. Another thing we all know is that Lizzie loves being the center of attention. How do we know that she didn't see and just purposefully trip on MG's backpack?" Kaleb gives good reasons as to how Lizzie's the second assailant as well as makes good points as to why she would do it.

"So, what you're saying is that Lizzie got out of the shower, completely destroyed her own dorm room then went back to taking a shower?" Penelope looks in disbelief of this and clearly finds it absurd.

"That makes no sense. Lizzie heard something break while she was in the shower, which means that someone had to be responsible." Josie backs Penelope up with Lizzie destroying the dorm room as absurd.

"I saved her life. The day she nearly died in her dorm room, it was completely trashed and she was lying on the ground with something around her neck, barely breathing. She couldn't possibly have done that." Hope speaks up, backing up Penelope and Josie but Kaleb just shrugs, seemingly unconvinced.

"She could've just paid someone on campus to do those things." Kaleb points out with a shrug before Josie realizes something.

"The call." Josie blurts out randomly.

"What call?" Penelope looks at her ex concerned.

"Lizzie told me that someone called her, claiming the dorm room wasn't safe before she nearly died in it and Hope saved her. I shot her down, saying that it was probably just a prank and not to worry about it." Josie reveals information of what happened before Lizzie was nearly killed, which shocks the rest of them.

"Also, I know my twin better than anyone else in this school. She wouldn't pay people to trash her room or nearly kill her in it." Josie defends Lizzie, claiming that her sister is innocent in all of this.

"Well, we could always tie her to a truth orb like we did with Landon." Rafael suggests, finally speaking up since he voiced his uncertainty when answering Josie's question.

"That seems like the most logical thing to do." Hope looks unsure while her voice is more reassuring.

"Okay. Hope and I can interrogate her about it." Josie agrees to tie her twin to a truth orb, despite looking upset by having to do so.

Fortunately for Josie, Lizzie wasn't at the dorm room so they couldn't interrogate her, much to Josie's obvious relief.

Unfortunately, Lizzie walks in the dorm just as Hope and Josie were about to leave, laughing about something.

"Hey, sis. Hi Hope." Lizzie has broad and cheerful smile as she greets them but it drops when she sees their facial expressions aren't happy at all.

"What's wrong?" Lizzie looks concerned and confused as Hope and Josie exchange looks of displeasure before Hope sighs sadly.

"We need to ask you some questions… and we need you to be honest." Hope states, getting straight to the point then hesitates before she takes out the truth orb causing Lizzie to frown in confusion at this.

"Why is a truth orb necessary?" Lizzie looks sad and it's obvious that the other two are uncomfortable in doing this they look away from her evasively.

"Because we're unsure of whether you're going to be honest or not." Hope responds and the orb glows blue.

"Also because someone planted doubts in our mind about your honesty." Josie gives another reason as to why they have the truth orb and it glows blue as a result.

"Guys, I'm an open book. Ask me anything and I'll be honest." Lizzie claims holding her arms out as though she either wants a hug, she's non-threatening, or she's simply shrugging.

"Did you know that MG's backpack was near the stairs?" Josie asks a question first, clearly not enjoying this.

"No, I didn't. Not until I tripped over it." Lizzie replies and the orb glows blue meaning that she's being truthful.

"Did anyone actually aggressively kiss you after the paintball incident?" Hope wonders, also not enjoying interrogating Lizzie.

"Yes, but not when I said it did. Someone aggressively kiss me, it just happened before I reached the dorm room and called Josie." Lizzie responds and orb glows blue once again.

"Are you responsible for our dorm room being trashed, in any way?" Josie blurts this question and Lizzie gapes at her, disbelieving of what her twin thinks she's capable of.

"No, I had nothing to do with it." Lizzie's answer has the orb glow blue yet again making Josie more hopeful.

"After you saw the dorm room trashed, did you actually call me or Hope?" Josie asks another question before she forgets it.

"Yes I did." Lizzie replies causing the orb glow blue once more.

"What about nearly getting killed in your own dorm? Did you have anything to do with that?" Hope clearly hates this as does Josie, which seems to make it easier for Lizzie to answer their questions but this one clearly angers her.

"No. Do you honestly think that I would have something to do with me nearly getting strangled to death? I mean, you were there, you saw me barely breathing, near death. I had nothing to do with that either." Lizzie expresses her anger with this question, even bringing up the fact that Hope was there in the aftermath of the attack, and the orb glows blue, meaning she's being honest also that everything Kaleb had assumed was wrong, much Hope and Josie's relief.

"I'm going to take a shower. Maybe you should question the person who planted doubts about my honesty. Perhaps they're truly the guilty one." Lizzie gives them a suggestion of questioning Kaleb then walks to the bathroom and starts the shower.

Hope and Josie exchange looks of worry then head back to Penelope's dorm, where Penelope, Rafael, and Kaleb are all lounging lazily.

"So, what's the verdict?" Rafael questions curiously once he notices Hope and Josie walk in.

"She's innocent." Josie declares with a nod and Hope nods as well.

"We interrogated her and the orb glowed blue with each answer. She's in the clear." Hope backs up Josie's declaration even though she had nodded in agreement with it.

"I mean, despite the fact that she got angry when we accused her of being responsible for or having something to do with her near death in her dorm room, she's totally in the clear." Josie adds and Hope nods in agreement with her again.

"However, she did suggest that we interrogate the person who planted doubts about her honesty." Hope reveals the suggestion that Lizzie made.

"But we know that you're in the clear simply because everytime an attack on Lizzie happened, we were having a meeting." Josie quickly adds, putting Kaleb in the clear.

"Except when the dorm room got trashed. If anything, none of us were accounted for except me. I was in the main hall with several other people, setting up." Rafael points out that no one was accounted for when the dorm room was trashed except himself causing the three girls to look away evasively.

"Actually, the three of us were here, in Penelope's dorm." Josie admits awkwardly as Hope tucks a lock of her behind her ear while looks at the ground and Penelope clears her throat in a more awkward than usual way.

"Landon was with me in the main hall, so he wasn't responsible for it and neither was Kaleb because he was also in the main hall." Rafael contradicts his words of saying that no one was accounted for.

"We still don't know who's responsible for this and we now know it isn't just Lizzie trying to get attention. I mean, it could be anybody at this school. Not to mention, our attempts for MG and Lizzie might as well be in the toilet. We have no answers and no quest in any way." Hope complains about the fact that they have nothing, both in their quest to get MG and Lizzie together and trying to solve the mystery that is Lizzie's attacker/the possible game sabotager then plops on Penelope's bed, pouting about this revelation.

"I hate to say it, but she's right. We have nothing." Penelope glumly agrees with Hope's rant then sits down on her bed next to Hope, also pouting.

"Maybe we can fix that by telling Lizzie what to actually do when under a mistletoe?" Kaleb suggests, trying to get them reinvolved in the game.

"Wait. You don't hug under a mistletoe?" Hope looks confused by Kaleb's suggestion, revealing that her thoughts are the same as Lizzie's.

"You've never celebrated Christmas with a significant other, have you?" Penelope concludes and Hope shakes her head at this.

"Actually, I haven't celebrated Christmas since I was a baby. Along with the fact that I never had a boyfriend until Landon." Hope reveals a shocking truth that she's never truly celebrated Christmas.

"You haven't celebrated Christmas since you were a baby?" Josie looks horrified at the fact that Hope's never celebrated Christmas and Hope just nods.

"Yeah, it was rule made by mother. 'We will never celebrate Christmas until our family is whole again.' But that never happened so, I never actually celebrated any holiday with anyone until Thanksgiving." Hope admits the reason why she celebrated a holiday, then quotes her mother, and also reveals that last month was the first time that she celebrated Thanksgiving as well as a holiday in general.

"That's just… sad." Josie sounds and looks upset by Hope's lack of holiday spirit as she frowns, feeling sorry for the tribrid.

"Well, welcome to my life. Officially now called Sadville, where nothing but pain and other negative emotions reside." Hope gives dry humor about her life with a forced fake laugh.

Two days later, it's finally Christmas and the Mizzie Shipper's Quest isn't as divided as Lizzie and MG would like.

"Well, it appears our plan failed." MG whispers to Lizzie, who momentarily frowns before looking at MG and grinning deviously.

"Not entirely. There's still time to devastate and destroy their quest." Lizzie claims still grinning at him, which makes MG concerned.

"How?" MG looks confused as to how they are going to do that but Lizzie looks confident with whatever devious scheme she has.

"Just follow my lead." Lizzie advises with a smirk then walks away leaving MG to contemplate on if she actually wants him to follow her, so he does just to be safe.

"Where are we going?" MG wonders leaning closer towards her in order to whisper this question in her ear.

"You'll see." Lizzie replies after she shakes off the feeling she got when she felt his breath by her ear then keeps walking with MG continuing to follow her.

They head to a janitor's closet but don't go inside of it, mainly because Lizzie's looking around expectantly.

"Okay, now what are we waiting for?" MG isn't trying to annoy Lizzie, he's just curious and confused about what Lizzie is planning.

"Someone from the group." Lizzie states after sighing in annoyance at his question as she continues to look around the hallway.

"Hey. What about Hope? She's a part of the group." MG motions to Hope, who's at the other end of the hall, which Lizzie isn't looking at.

However, MG's words cause Lizzie to turn around and gasp in shock, confusing MG greatly as she said she was waiting for a member of the quest group.

"Oh my god. Hi Hope." Lizzie walks over and greets her after messing up her hair and adjusting some things with both her and MG's uniforms.

"Hey, Lizzie. Hi, MG." Hope greets them, looking at both of them curiously, sensing that something is off.

"Hey." MG waves at her then Hope sees Lizzie interlace her fingers with MG after they hold hands.

"Well, I just saw you walking by and thought I'd say hi. Come on MG, let's go see if Mr. Williams needs help in the kitchen." Lizzie drags MG off to the kitchen after waving at Hope one last time.

"That was the plan?" MG feels more confused than ever but Lizzie just simply nods in agreement.

"Yep. Now let's go see who she goes to talk to." Lizzie demands after verbally agreeing to his question.

As expected, Hope walks up to Penelope, who's hanging out with Josie, both of them laughing at a possible inside joke.

"Hey. I just had the weirdest encounter with Lizzie and MG." Hope gets straight to the point after Penelope and Josie notice her, catching their attention.

"How weird was it?" Penelope questions but in response, Hope just motions her head to a janitor's closet then walks toward it, having Josie and Penelope follow her.

"Um, I stopped being in the closet since I was twelve." Penelope reveals causing Hope and Josie to roll their eyes.

"I think this quest is officially over." Hope claims in a whisper.

"What do you mean?" Josie steals the question that Penelope obviously wanted to ask.

"Well, when they came up to me to say hello, it looked like they had just gotten out of a janitor's closet, Lizzie's hair was a mess and both of their clothes were… disheveled. Messier than Lizzie's very frizzy hair, if we're getting technical." Hope reveals the attire that MG and Lizzie had when she talked to them.

Josie and Penelope look shocked by this news and Penelope smiles at this.

"So, all of our attempts worked. It appears that this group can officially be disbanded. Our work here is done." Penelope declares happily but Josie shakes her head.

"It can't be that easy. I mean, one second Lizzie tells me she isn't interested him then she's hooking up MG in a janitor's closet. I feel like there's more to it than that." Josie admits her worries about the entire situation.

"You make a good point. But I can guarantee you, that getting those two together was not easy." Hope agrees on Josie's point then points out that the quest wasn't easy and Josie relents, realizing that Hope's right.

The three of them walk out of the closet and before they go to celebrate the holidays with the rest of the school, Penelope sends out a text to Kaleb and Rafael.

'_It's official. Our quest has been completed and this group has been disbanded, no longer active.'_ Penelope sends the text to the group conversation after showing it to the other girls, who nodded in agreement that she send the text.

Then the three of them head to the dining hall to eat and then celebrate Christmas, all seemingly happy that the quest is finally over.

**A/N: So, a lot has happened in this chapter. Lizzie and Penelope seemed to have actually happened, Hope and Landon broke up, Josie had a pregnancy scare, along with other****multiple surprises. It appears that the quest is finally over, or is it?**


	16. A New Lizzie: It's for New Year's

A week later, the Mizzie Shipper's Quest is still disbanded, much to Lizzie's joy and she thinks that she should interrogate her twin on the quest she was previously involved in.

"Hey Josie." Lizzie greets Josie looking absolutely cheerful, which doesn't go unnoticed.

"Hey, Lizzie. You're very cheerful." Josie takes note of Lizzie's cheerfulness, trying not to sound glum.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's New Year's Eve!" Lizzie exclaims happily then realizes that Josie looks upset about something and frowns at her.

"What's wrong, sis?" Lizzie looks at Josie with sympathy and her twin just looks away evasively after Lizzie walks in front of her.

"It's nothing. I'm just trying to figure some things out." Josie tries to assure Lizzie she's fine but Lizzie doesn't buy it.

"What kind of things? Maybe I can help." Lizzie suggests after wondering what kind of things were bothering her.

"Um, like you said, it's New Year's but I'm just having difficulty trying to find a solution to a problem that shouldn't even exist." Josie gives Lizzie a very vague answer as to why she's upset.

"What kind of problem?" Lizzie coaxes Josie to talk to her and Josie finally relents.

"As you know, I've been getting closer to Hope and Penelope and since it's New Year's, I kind of want to have a New Year's kiss, kind of thing." Josie admits but Lizzie just looks confused.

"I'm not entirely seeing the problem." Lizzie voices her confusion and Josie just sighs sadly.

"The problem is I care about both of them, in a romantic way and I'm just trying to figure out who to kiss. There's Penelope, who's most likely expecting a kiss but then there's Hope, who's never had a New Year's kiss." Josie speaks her mind on the problem that she's currently having and Lizzie gapes at her in shock.

"You and Penelope were dating last year which means that you two already had a New Year's kiss. I say go with Hope, or just engage in a three-way kiss." Lizzie gives her a solution to her problem, that Josie clearly contemplates even as she's shocked that her twin is supportive of her being with two people, one of them being Penelope, who Lizzie hates.

"You seem different." Josie points out and Lizzie looks at her curiously along with confused.

"I don't know what you mean." Lizzie claims still looking at Josie.

"You just gave me advice on kissing two people, both of whom you hate. What gives?" Josie believes that Lizzie has ulterior motives as to why she's acting differently but Lizzie just smiles at her in return.

"I don't know. A New Year makes room for a new Lizzie, I guess." Lizzie just simply shrugs as she continues to smile at her sister.

"How's MG?" Josie wonders curiously which has Lizzie slowly blushes at the mention.

"Um, I don't know. I haven't spoken to him since Christmas." Lizzie admits after she recovers from blushing then looks away evasively before reaching into her pocket.

"Uh, you might want to return this to the rightful owner." Lizzie hands Josie a phone which Josie immediately recognizes as Hope's phone.

"You're the one who stole Hope's phone." Josie looks at Lizzie in shock and Lizzie just nods in agreement before crossing her arms then starts glaring at her twin.

"Anything you want to tell me about the quest you were a part of?" Lizzie questions, looking angered at Josie's secrecy.

"No." Josie stands her ground and gets defensive.

"Come on, Josie. New year, new me. That's why I handed Hope's phone over to you and revealed myself as the culprit of stealing it. We can't be half-honest with each other sis." Lizzie looks demandent of answers and Josie sighs, realizing that she's right.

So, Josie tells Lizzie all about the quest without actually telling her what the point of the quest was and also tells her that the only thing that mattered was that it was finally over when Lizzie asked what the quest was about, this answer seeming to satisfy Lizzie.

"So, why haven't you been talking to MG?" Josie decides to get answers from Lizzie, who starts blushing at the mention of MG's name again.

"Um, remember when I told you to give me one or more reasons to not be interested in him?" Lizzie brings up the conversation from two days before Christmas and Josie nods in agreement.

"I remember." Josie answers verbally despite her nod then motions for Lizzie to continue.

"Well, um, I have a crush… on him and I've kind of been avoiding him for the past week because of it." Lizzie reveals awkwardly, having hesitated between crush and on him.

"I don't know where it came from. It might have been two days before Christmas when I fell on him, or it might have been there way longer and I've just now noticed it. Or maybe it just sprung out of nowhere because it's New Year's. Either way, I have a crush on him and I don't like it Josie." Lizzie declares after she rants possible reasons as to where her crush came from which was after she claimed she didn't know where it came from.

"I thought you two were together." Josie decides to voice her belief but this has Lizzie shake her head.

"No, we aren't. Were you listening to a word I said, I've been avoiding him for the past week. Where did that even come from?" Lizzie asks confused after sounding out each word of the answer she gave when Josie first asked about MG.

"I… it doesn't matter. I'm not entirely sure what to do with all of this information, Lizzie." Josie admits after she refuses to answer the question.

"You're my sister and I need someone to listen to my rants and not zone out like dad does because he couldn't care less about our romantic lives." Lizzie tells Josie the reason as to why she always complains, rants, and casually talks to her, this reason clearly touching Josie.

"Well, if you want some friendly, sisterly advice? I think you should talk to MG about it. I mean, you said it yourself, new year, new you." Josie encourages Lizzie to just talk to MG but she shoots the suggestion down.

"No, I can't talk to him. I get all… nervous and awkward and antisocial. That's why everytime I see him in the dining hall or on the opposite side of the hall, I walk away quickly. I officially hate having crushes." Lizzie admits that she hates crushes after explaining to Josie why she can't talk to MG, which shocks Josie.

"Did you want me to come with you to talk to him?" Josie decides to suggest, believing that her twin wants her to hold her hand during this.

"No, I don't. I appreciate the offer but, I'm going to attempt to try it myself. I can totally do this." Lizzie declines the offer of Josie being there despite appreciating it, and she gives herself a mini pep talk of confidence.

After a moment of giving herself an internal pep talk, Lizzie just grabs Josie's wrist and drags her out of their dorm room, much to Josie's shock.

"Um, where are we going?" Josie asks, clearly confused by her sister's sudden behavior change.

"We are scoping things out. I'll keep a lookout for your girls and you keep a lookout for MG. Then on the count of three, we'll approach the respective people." Lizzie explains to Josie what they're going to be doing yet doesn't notice that she didn't answer the actual question Josie asked.

The two of them stop in a hallway in order to scope out the area, as Lizzie put it, but it doesn't take long before Josie spots MG first.

"Found MG." Josie says plainly as she motions to him then looks to her twin only to see her get a look of nervousness while she clearly blushes.

Josie puts her head down and sighs, realizing how this is going to be, despite Lizzie's internal self-confidence pep talks.

"Hey, be confident, remember?" Josie reminds Lizzie of needing to be confident and Lizzie nods in agreement with her then starts to walk towards him as he walks towards her.

"Hey Lizzie." MG greets her with a wave and a friendly smile as he passes her.

"Hi." Lizzie manages squeak out her greeting with a small wave but dorky smile as she watches him walk away and once he's out of sight, she continues to look in the direction that he went in, admiringly.

"He said hi to me." Lizzie sighs out as she still stares in the direction he went in once Josie walks up to her.

"You are literally drooling." Josie shakes her head disapprovingly, wiping the actual drool from Lizzie's mouth with a towel from her jean pocket.

Lizzie then shakes it off and frowns in disappointment, realizing that she only made an idiot of herself.

"Damn it. Eh, maybe next year." Lizzie concludes that she'll be less awkward around MG by next New Year's then walks away from Josie to probably think about next year.

Josie continues to shake her head disapprovingly before she sees Penelope and she runs up to her.

"Hey, Pen. We need to talk. Now." Josie demands that she and Penelope talk after greeting her.

A few minutes later, Penelope and Josie are in Penelope's dorm room with Penelope seeming confused by Josie's more demanding behavior.

"Remember when we disbanded our group last week?" Josie questions, whispering, even though no one else is in the room.

"Uh, yeah. There was practical champagne and an actual party." Penelope nods in agreement that she remembers the group disbanding.

"Yeah, that was a huge mistake." Josie emphasizes huge, catching Penelope's attention.

"What do you mean?" Penelope looks confused and Josie just sighs, unsure of how to tell her why.

"Because earlier today, Lizzie just told me that she had a crush on MG and totally denied that she and MG were a couple despite what Hope saw. Then, we were in a hallway so Lizzie can talk to him and she turns to mush, only acknowledging that he said hi, and looked at him in an admiring way. It was a complete package of the 'awkward around a crush' cliche, even more complete with drooling." Josie explains everything that happened before she approached Penelope in one breath, and Penelope looks very confused, most likely because she got none of what Josie just told her.

"Okay, I might need to have that be repeated in a slower manner but if I'm understanding what you're saying correctly; they aren't together?" Penelope summarizes the only thing that she actually got from Josie's rambling after declaring that everything Josie had said needed to be in a slow, understanding manner.

"Exactly. But now Lizzie has a crush on MG and she acts like the complete package of the 'awkward around your crush' cliche, even more complete when the drooling started happening." Josie agrees with Penelope's summary then summarizes the rest of her rambling, repeating the last statement.

"So, are you saying that we re band the Mizzie Shipper's Quest?" Penelope sounds more confused than she's probably ever been yet looks shocked that their plan didn't entirely work.

"I don't know. But I feel like we should definitely fix whatever is going on." Josie reveals that she's unsure of restarting the quest yet seems certain to help Lizzie with her newfound crush.

"Alright. I'll talk to MG about exactly what happened last week and you talk to Lizzie about her crush more." Penelope agrees that they fix the problem then makes plans to get more information and Josie nods in agreement to these plans.

Before either of them leave the dorm, Josie just decides to abruptly yet passionately kiss Penelope, who reciprocates it pretty happily.

"What was that for?" Penelope questions, mildly breathless as she looks at Josie stunned.

"It's just, I wanted to kiss Hope at midnight tonight, but I didn't want to leave you out of the equation." Josie explains what the kiss was for, bringing up the fact that she chose Hope for the New Year's midnight kiss.

"Seems fair. Except the fact that I might have made the same decision." Penelope admits that she also plans on kissing Hope for New Year's, shocking Josie.

"Well, great minds apparently do think alike. How about we have Hope make the decision then?" Josie suggests after claiming that she and Penelope have great minds causing Penelope to nod.

"Sounds like a plan but first, let's fix this MG and Lizzie mess." Penelope agrees despite nodding then brings the topic back to Lizzie and MG.

This causes both of them to leave and look for the people that they made plans to talk to.

Penelope finds MG in the dining hall, working on something, so she walks up to him.

"Hey MG." Penelope greets him causing him to stop what he's doing and look up at her.

"Hey, Peez. What's up?" MG returns the greeting then wonders what she wants.

"What are you doing?" Penelope ignores the question, mainly because she's too focused on what MG's working on.

"Oh, well since I've given up on the fact that I'm going to have a New Year's midnight kiss, I am preparing for Valentine's Day. Hey tell me, does this sound too cheesy?" MG pushes his spiral towards Penelope, wanting her opinion on the poem he was writing after explaining what he's doing.

"Roses are red, violets aren't blue, I really like you, do you like me too?" Penelope reads the poem then scrunches her face in confusion.

"Is this a confession in a Valentine's Day poem?" Penelope wonders, even though it's obvious that it is.

"Yeah, I'm deciding to choose Valentine's Day to finally express my feelings for Lizzie. It's too cheesy, isn't it?" MG reveals why he's writing a poem then deduces the one he wrote is too cheesy based on Penelope's facial expression.

"It's a little cheesy." Penelope agrees with the fact that it's cheesy but only slightly and MG sighs as he takes back the spiral in order to write a different one.

"Did you want to stay and be my editor? I want to write the poem before I create the card project." MG suggests that Penelope stay in order to help him then tells her he's just simply writing a rough draft.

"Sure." Penelope accepts the offer of staying to help with a smile and the two of them start working on it.

Meanwhile, Josie goes back to her and Lizzie's dorm room, where she hears the shower running.

Josie sighs then plops on her bed to wait and starts playing on her phone to pass the time.

After a while of the shower running, Josie gets concerned since Lizzie always knows when someone walks in, even in the shower.

"Lizzie." Josie decides to call out to her but starts to get worried when she doesn't answer.

"Lizzie?" Josie gets off the bed then walks towards the bathroom door and starts to open it slowly.

"Lizzie." Josie pokes her head into the bathroom nervously then walks in completely when it's obvious that no one's in the shower.

She pulls back the curtain and turns the shower off then takes out her phone in order to call her twin.

Josie puts her phone to her ear after dialing Lizzie only to hear the phone from behind her causing her to whip around to see a person in a dark grey hoodie with a ski mask on, holding Lizzie's phone, much to Josie's horror.

"Ahh!" Josie screams in fear, realizing she wouldn't be able to make it to the door in time, yet this causes the person to attack her.

After a while once the assailant leaves, Lizzie returns to dorm, holding something in her hands.

"Josie." Lizzie calls out to her sister once she walks in the dorm room and the shower's running.

"Josie, I'm back." Lizzie calls out to her again, saying that she's returned but it remains silent.

"Jos, when do you ever give me the silent treatment?" Lizzie seems confused by Josie not even saying hello to her so she heads towards the bathroom to investigate her twin's silence.

Lizzie simply opens the door, only to be horrified of the sight that is her sister, badly injured and barely conscious sprawled on the bathroom floor.

"Oh my god, Josie." Lizzie rushes to her twin's side and immediately checks her pulse, which is barely there, before she checks her for broken bones then lifts her up in bridal carry to take her to Emma after establishing that there are none.

After a little while, Lizzie is anxiously pacing outside the hospital wing of the school, since her presence was stressing Emma out and she needed to focus on Josie, when Penelope runs up to Lizzie.

"Hey, I got your text. How's Josie?" Penelope wonders clearly concerned after bringing up that she got what Lizzie texted her.

"Um, I don't know, she's still with Emma but she has no broken bones." Lizzie looks like she's about to cry as she explains Josie's condition to Penelope, who also seems near tears.

It doesn't take long before MG runs up to the two of them, looking clearly concerned for Josie.

"I just got Penelope's text. Is she okay?" MG, much like Lizzie and Penelope, doesn't seem to hide the fact that he's worried about Josie.

"She's still breathing, so I'll say she's okay." Lizzie responds yet clearly seems unconvinced by her own words.

"I'm going to go get Dr. Saltzman. He'll want to know about this." Penelope claims she'll go get Alaric and Lizzie nods in agreement that she should get him so Penelope leaves.

"Hey, are you okay?" MG looks at Lizzie, who's still near tears yet nods as though she is okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lizzie lies that she's alright with a nod of reassurance but MG doesn't buy it.

"Hey." MG just pulls her into a hug and she starts hysterically crying in his shoulder, letting him comfort her before she pulls away.

"She was just lying on the bathroom floor, barely breathing and I was so scared for her. Then I…" Lizzie starts to hyperventilate as she talks about how she found Josie right when Alaric and Penelope walk up to them, with all four of them looking worried.

"Who would attack Josie in her dorm?" MG wonders curiously which has Penelope and Lizzie exchange looks but not respond, due to Alaric also being there.

"Or just in general?" Alaric adds to MG's question, clearly worried for Josie, like the rest of them.

"Hey, what happened?" Hope jogs up, having noticed the four standing around, looking concerned by the fact that they're all standing around the hospital wing.

"Josie got attacked in the bathroom of our dorm room." Lizzie answers, still upset by the fact.

"What?" Hope looks horrified by the fact Josie was attacked and Penelope is about to say something when Emma walks out.

"She's okay. She's stabilized and on anesthetics, which should wear off within the hour." Emma informs them that Josie's still alive, much to all of their reliefs.

"Can she have visitors?" Lizzie questions and Emma nods in agreement which has Lizzie rush to her twin's side, who is still unconscious but Lizzie's just relieved that she is still alive.

All six of them stay by Josie's bedside until Hope decides to leave.

"I'm going to call Rafael, he'll want to know about this." Hope announces that she is going to call Rafael in a whisper, since Josie is still sleeping, then walks out as she pulls her phone from her pocket.

Just after she leaves, Josie's eyes flutter open and Lizzie just hugs her in response to her waking up.

"Hey." Lizzie greets Josie softly with a warm smile that Josie returns.

"Hi." Josie greets her weakly, still with a small smile as she looks around.

"Where's Hope?" Josie frowns as she notices that Hope isn't there, yet smiled at the people who were there.

"Oh, she walked out to call Rafael. She'll be back soon, I'm sure." Lizzie assures her twin that Hope will be back soon after telling her where she went and Josie weakly nods in understanding.

"Are you sure she'll be back? I didn't know phone calls were this long when informed another person of something." Penelope expresses her concern on the fact that Hope has yet to return after questioning Lizzie's words of her coming back.

"I'll go check to see what's taking so long." Lizzie gets up and walks out to the corridor of the hospital wing, only to see that neither Rafael nor Hope are out there, which mildly worries her until she hears footsteps appear behind her.

"Are you looking for me?" An angry voice comes from behind Lizzie, which clearly and mildly intimidates her.

"You didn't call Rafael, did you?" Lizzie deduces, clearly knowing the person behind her, despite having an angrier than usual tone.

Lizzie turns around to see Hope standing in a dark grey hoodie with a dark expression on her face, which has Lizzie's face wash over with horror.

"Hope?" Lizzie looks very confused and terrified by Hope's appearance which has Hope smirk briefly.

"Surprised?" Hope sounds arrogant while wondering this and Lizzie looks even more horrified.

"No." Lizzie sighs out in disbelief as she realizes that Hope is the second hooded figure.

"Yes." Hope simply confirms what Lizzie's just figured out before walking closer to and knocking Lizzie unconscious.

"I'm going to see what's taking Lizzie so long." MG speaks up after a couple of minutes have passed and neither Hope nor Lizzie walked through the door yet.

"I'll come with you." Penelope declares then they both leave, so Josie can talk to her dad privately, since she clearly wants to.

Emma is too preoccupied doing other things, not even paying attention to the two Saltzman's whatsoever.

"Dad. There's something that I need to tell you." Josie states weakly, catching Alaric's attention.

"You found out about the game during setting up for Christmas but what you don't know is all of the things that before Christmas." Josie indirectly brings up the day he found out that Josie and Penelope made a game that involved Lizzie then tells him there are things that he doesn't know, which mildly concerns him.

Josie then proceeds to tell him everything that happened before Christmas, like the paintball incident, the staircase incident, the dorm trashing, and the fact that Lizzie was nearly killed in their dorm room, almost similarly to how she was while in the bathroom, along with the fact that someone, who wears a dark grey hoodie, is after a key Landon's in possession of.

"We've been trying to figure out who this person is but we just don't know and we're getting more terrified by the second." Josie explains that her, Penelope, and the group that she used to hang out with are still trying to solve the case of someone who wants the key that Landon has then starts to tear up when she tells him she's more terrified by every second that passes.

Alaric hugs her as he now becomes concerned that his daughters and a couple other students have been dealing with this by themselves.

Penelope and MG interrupt the moment when they walk back in the room, catching Josie and Alaric's attention.

"They weren't there." Penelope says plainly then MG holds up a phone.

"This was the only thing that was on the floor." MG hands the phone to Josie and she immediately recognizes it as Lizzie's.

"This is Lizzie's phone." Josie tells them as she struggles to sit up then flings her legs over the side of the bed so they dangle.

"Why would that be on the floor and was Hope's phone there too?" Alaric asks two good questions.

"Nope, just Lizzie's." MG responds to the second question after he shrugged at the first one.

"It's not cracked or broken meaning that it was most likely placed on the floor." Penelope brings up the condition Lizzie's phone is in.

"The person who attacked me had her phone. They showed me the phone when I tried to call her, right before they attacked me." Josie tells them some of what happened before she was attacked which has Penelope frown in confusion.

"Well, Lizzie wouldn't leave her phone on the floor." MG pipes in as Penelope still frowns in confusion.

"If the person who attacked you had Lizzie's phone, then how did she text me about your condition?" Penelope speaks up on her confusion.

"Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, she looked surprised when I told her that I got her text." Penelope realizes causing Josie to try and stand up but Ric has her sit back down.

"You should rest." Alaric advises but Josie scoffs at this advice with a roll of her eyes.

"Lizzie and Hope might be missing. I'm not going to stay here and get better. I'm going to find them." Josie struggles to stand again, this time being successful then starts to head to the door, proving stubbornness that she most likely gets from her mother.

However, before Josie can open the door, Emma casts a spell that puts her to sleep and she falls unconscious but MG catches her in his arms then puts her back on the bed.

"She needs her bed rest whether she wants it or not." Emma states then nods at Alaric as though she's encouraging him to go find Lizzie while she keeps Josie there, which is a look he seems to read as he returns a nod.

Meanwhile, Lizzie regains consciousness and it doesn't take long before she realizes that she's in a car with Hope at the wheel, despite not having a license or being taught fully.

"Where are we going?" Lizzie wonders, concerned by Hope's aggressive driving.

"Somewhere secluded." Hope replies to this question very vaguely, which worries Lizzie.

Hope continues to drive recklessly with a very nervous Lizzie in the passenger side before she takes a needle and injects Lizzie with it, which has the blonde pass out.

"Who do you guys think have them?" Alaric asks, making it obvious that he knows of the grey hooded figure.

"I don't know. It could be anyone from campus, we still haven't figured it out." Penelope tells Ric that they have no idea who it is, reminding him of this as MG looks around.

"Uh, wasn't Hope supposed to call Rafael?" MG points out Hope's words before Lizzie eventually went to check on her.

They all look around the area, not seeing Rafael anywhere which confuses them all greatly.

"That's not right. Josie still has Hope's phone from when Lizzie gave it back to her earlier." Penelope informs them that Josie has Hope's phone so Hope calling Rafael makes no sense then she gasps in shock.

"The person who attacked Josie had Lizzie's phone, we found Lizzie's phone on the floor, Hope's phone is still in Josie's possession. That means…" Penelope trails off with a look of horror after pointing three different things out.

However, before Penelope can reveal her thoughts, Rafael jogs up with Landon, both seeming worried.

"Hey, what's up?" Rafael looks concerned by the fact that they're outside the hospital wing and so does Landon.

"We'll explain later. Have either of you seen Hope or Lizzie?" MG interrogates them, ignoring Rafael's question.

"Uh no, not recently. Why?" Landon wonders curiously after claiming that he hasn't seen either of them.

"They're missing." MG says plainly in realization, a revelation that horrifies Rafael and Landon.

Back with Hope, who's no longer driving, Lizzie starts regaining consciousness again to see Hope's back as she's leaning against the hood of the car.

Hope seems to sense that Lizzie's awake again since she stands fully then walks over to the passenger side and opens the door.

"Get out." Hope demands before she reaches in the car and forcefully yanks Lizzie out of the vehicle then slams the door once she's out.

The second she does, another car pulls up on the dark road the two girls are currently on which clearly intimidates both of them.

"You're responsible for nearly killing me in the dorm room, and Josie in the bathroom. Aren't you?" Lizzie decides to get answers from Hope, who remains stone faced and quiet.

"Of course. That's why you were the first one there after the attack." Lizzie realizes that Hope is truly responsible for nearly killing her in the dorm room and Hope continues to remain silent.

The person who just pulled up gets out of the car, but neither of them can see their face because the headlights are bright and blinding.

Hope stands to the middle of the road and the person who got out of the car does the same so they're now face-to-face.

"I got you what you wanted. Now give her back." Hope states she has what the person wanted as she holds up the key that Lizzie had taken from Landon then demands that the person returns whoever 'her' is.

"One last order of business." the person states in a calm demeanor then walks towards Lizzie, who immediately tenses up when they approach her.

"Remember me?" the man wonders with a smirk but it turns to a scowl when she shakes her head.

"You will." the man threatens then stabs her in the stomach with a pocket knife causing her to gasp in pain as Hope watches on sadly.

"Let's go." the man walks back over to Hope, placing a hand on her back so he can lead her to his car, leaving Lizzie gasping for breath as a knife resides in her stomach on the dark road.

Back at the Salvatore school, MG's on a laptop intently searching for something after they determined that a car was missing and Kaleb has joined the group.

"Okay, got it. I finally tracked the missing car's gps to a place in the middle of nowhere." MG tells the group that he finally found the car.

"Let's go." Rafael says but MG clears his throat and Penelope sighs in annoyance.

"He meant, wheels up in twenty." Penelope uses the statement that Criminal Minds use which has MG smile happily at the fact that she said it then they leave.

It's just a matter of time before they reach the road Lizzie's on, of course with Penelope driving, it doesn't take long at all.

They get out of the car, with MG immediately vamp speeding to Lizzie's aid and removes the knife only to give her his blood soon after.

"Hope's insane." Lizzie breathes out after MG heals her which has MG look at the rest of the group who just walked up after getting out of the car.

After a moment, Lizzie is leaning against Alaric's car and has explained everything that led her to being kidnapped by Hope and what happened before she was stabbed.

"She demanded the man 'give her back'?" Kaleb questions, clearly confused but Lizzie just nods in agreement.

"That sounds like she's being blackmailed. Who is 'her'?" Penelope wonders and Lizzie shakes her head after shrugging.

"I have no idea." Lizzie responds despite shrugging and shaking her head.

"She took my key?" Landon seems to have just processed this even though it was one of the first things that Lizzie told them.

"Did you get a license plate number? I might be able to track the car that way." MG informs Lizzie that he can track the car after asking if she saw a license plate.

"The car didn't have a front license plate. It had a back one, but I couldn't see it." Lizzie reveals that the car didn't have a front license plate but had an unidentifiable back one.

"How did you guys get here so fast?" Lizzie decides to ask on part of her curiosity.

"We let Penelope drive." Rafael answers with a shake of his head and Landon shutters in fear, implying that she's a bad driver and Penelope rolls her eyes at this.

"Wait, I know where that key leads. That's probably where they're going." Landon deduces where they're going after stating that he knows where the key leads.

"Wonderful. I'll drive." Penelope exclaims happily, holding the keys up and nobody argues with this since they want to get there quickly.

So they get back in the car and Penelope speeds off, listening to Landon's instructions on where to go.

Within an hour, they make it to the warehouse that the key leads to and they're about to get out of the car before Lizzie speaks up.

"Wait. We should have a plan, or something before we just go barging in there." Lizzie gives wise advice on what they should do so they all start thinking of a plan.

"Here's a plan. We just storm the place and demand answers from Hope." Penelope gives a very terrible plan that everyone disagrees to.

"No, we have to be sneaky and deceitful." MG gives a different plan then proceeds to explain it.

"I should probably stay here. Both Hope and the guy who stabbed me think I'm dead." Lizzie suggests she stay in the car as the people they're going to confront most likely believe she's dead.

"No one likes the idea of you staying here alone." Penelope immediately speaks for the other people in the car, including herself, and the others all nod in agreement.

They all get out of the car, Lizzie included, in order to get to the storage unit, which they sneak towards.

"What was that?" The guy who dragged Hope to the storage unit wonders angrily after a small noise is made.

"I don't know." Hope retorts causing the man to approach her threateningly.

"Well, go figure it out." The man demands her and she just walks off to discover the noise.

Hope walks around the storage unit, determined to figure out the noise that was made, holding a handgun as she does.

It doesn't take long before Hope finds Penelope, who doesn't seem to realize that someone's behind her until she hears a gun cock to the back of her head.

Hope shoves her to the area where the man is while still holding the gun to the back of her head.

"Found the noise maker." Hope informs the guy who looks up at the two girls.

"Instead of just standing there and looking pretty, how about you pull the trigger?" The guy suggests that Hope kills Penelope, who immediately gets scared when Hope sounds like she's actually going to shoot her.

"Forget her. I found what I was looking for." The guy saves Penelope at the last minute when he tells Hope to forget her as he no longer needs to be in the storage unit.

"Good. Now hand her back." Hope demands that he gives 'her' back and he just chuckles at the demand until Hope cocks the gun in his direction.

"I said give her back." Hope repeats the demand, looking murderous as she starts to approach him, still keeping the gun on him.

The guy's look turns into a scowl as she keeps the gun on him.

"Or what? You'll kill me? If I die, she dies. It's as easy as that." The guy taunts Hope, who lowers the gun, realizing that she can't kill him, much to his amusement.

In a shocking turn of events, the guy pulls out his own gun and shoots Hope in the stomach before simply leaving the unit as he takes out his phone.

Penelope rushes to Hope's aid as she bleeds out, clearly infuriated by the turn of events.

"He's going to kill her anyway." Hope manages to speak, voicing her realization in horror.

"Who's 'her'?" Penelope asks as she tries to stop the bleeding.

"My aunt. He has Freya." Hope responds to who he has, which explains Hope's more recent actions.

"He's the only one who knows where she is." Hope reveals that the man who shot her is the only one with knowledge of her aunt's location.

A moment later, MG comes the rescue and gives Hope his blood, which she responds to, then the three leave, only for Hope to see the guy unconscious.

"Did you kill him?" Hope looks horrified at the fact he could be dead.

"Nope. Just knocked him out. Now we can get the information of where he's holding your aunt." Kaleb explains that he's alive as well as implying that he eavesdropped on Hope and Penelope's conversation.

So, that's exactly what they do and once they establish that Freya is safe, they kill the guy responsible and head back to the school.

Lizzie seems demandent of answers from Hope, which doesn't go unnoticed by Hope, who just walks away from Lizzie, ashamed of her actions.

"It's two hours till New Year's." Lizzie decides to state the time in a sigh of defeat, not knowing what to do anymore as she stares up at the ceiling.

Lizzie is lounging on a chair in the hospital wing, next to Josie's bedside as her sister still sleeps.

"I don't know what to do. I mean, I had plans but then they got sidetracked because drama, go figure." Lizzie is ranting to her sister, seemingly looking for advice from her.

"You know what, you're so right. I'm going to be confident." Lizzie makes a discovery and she believes Josie helped her make it.

Lizzie leaves Josie's bedside then confidently goes to MG after getting something from her dorm room.

"Hey, MG." Lizzie approaches him with a warm greeting and tries not to blush when he smiles at her.

"Hi Lizzie. What's that?" MG immediately notices something in Lizzie's hands, which has her smile nervously.

"Um, something that I forgot to give you on Christmas. So, here." Lizzie hands him what she has after telling him that it's a late Christmas gift for him.

"Oh, thanks Lizzie." MG thanks Lizzie for the gift, despite not having seen it yet, as he takes it from her hands.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out, like now-ish." Lizzie awkwardly suggests that they hang out at that moment, shocking MG, mainly because he has never seen Lizzie awkward around him.

"Yeah, we can hang out. I'm not doing anything." MG agrees to hanging out with her, stating that he's not doing anything, which has Lizzie smile at him nervously again.

The two then spend a little over an hour together on the Salvatore school grounds, when MG realizes something.

"Don't you have someone special to hang out with on New Year's, like Rafael or Josie?" MG questions why she's hanging out with him, believing that she should be spending it with someone else.

"I like to think I am spending it with someone special." Lizzie admits that she's spending New Year's with someone she thinks is special, which MG picks up on.

"You think I'm someone special?" MG looks at her curiously and she just smiles at him in return.

"I was always known for being a little biased." Lizzie shrugs cutely, stating that she's biased before leaning closer to him, which he retaliates in doing the same.

In that moment, Lizzie kisses MG, with him reciprocating it happily, yet both of them are shocked that the other's into them.

The kiss breaks after a few seconds, mainly so Lizzie can adjust her sitting position and MG places a hand on her cheek then kisses her again, this kiss happening at midnight, symbolizing a New Year.

**A/N: So, the quest is now officially over, as MG and Lizzie have finally had a first kiss but of course, drama always happens. Josie nearly gets killed in her bathroom, Lizzie has a crush on MG, MG focuses on Valentine's Day, and other things. Was Hope truly responsible for being the second dark grey hooded figure, or was she just being blackmailed? I guess the truth will never be revealed.**


End file.
